Naruto: Emerald Chronicles
by Emerald Version
Summary: Brendan was born in Little Root, but he's moved with his family to Konoha and befriended Naruto. As he captures pokemon and raises them, he will grow alongside Naruto. As he figures out his new life as a ninja, he will confront Team Aqua and Team Magma.
1. Chapter 1

Long ago, there was a land where the powers of earth and sea were given form. It was a beautiful land, filled with lush rainforests, grand forests, spacious seas, vast deserts and harmony between the forces of land, sea and air. But one day, two men of great greed turned the forces of sea and land against each other for their own gains. Torrential Rain fell from the heavens for days at a time, only to be followed by a complete dryness that comes with only the most severe of droughts. But the powers of the earth and sea proved too much for the two men who sought to profit from the fighting, and they lost control of the super-ancient beings. Despair washed over the land like the torrential rains and extreme sunlight which plagued the land, and just when all hope seemed lost… a great, green dragon, the personification of air appeared from the heavens and calmed the two great beasts, giving the creatures and people of the land balance and hope. The Being of Earth was called Groudon, the Being of the Sea was called Kyogre, and the Being of the Air was called Rayquaza. In the aftermath of these titan's conflict the people and creatures worked together to rebuild their world. The tale of these Super Ancient Beings was passed down through the generations until the story became legend, and legend became myth. And so man forgot the consequences of tampering with these beasts, and awakened Kyogre and Groudon again. Once again, their battle was marked by extreme rain and drought, switching too dramatically for the very fabric of nature to hold together. But the people did not lose hope, they thought that Rayquaza would appear, but it did not. Without any further options, the people left their lives in the hands of fate. What became of the people, and creatures whom lived in that land…? None remain who know… but the legend of Rayquaza lives on to this day, passed down by my family.

My name is Brendan, and it is a strange world I live in. Although nobody knows what happened to that mythical land, the creatures that lived there have been given a modern name. You would probably know them best as Pokemon. But unfortunately, Pokemon are something of a rarity in the modern age, and Pokemon trainers, the humans who battle alongside Pokemon are even rarer. I am one of the last. My clan used to be a great and powerful family which held great influence in world politics, but after years and years of erosion, it's just me, my mom and my dad. We lost the land we controlled, and we don't really care to reacquire it. We train so that we can make money to put bread on the table. Due to the rarity of Pokemon, some humans began to train themselves in the martial arts to fight, and through a long and grinding process, a new breed of fighter was born, the shinobi. Man has sharpened its ability to kill and gained the ability to even bend the elements to his will. My father was the first in our clan to become a ninja and a trainer at the same time, making him invaluable in a fight. Pokemon are more than a match for most ninjas, and his additional value as a shinobi has made him a hot item. He's a Mercenary, the best in the business, and I intend to follow in his footsteps. Recently he had taken up a new contract with the shinobi village in the Land of Fire, the village hidden in the leaves, called Konoha. That was why I was in the back of a moving truck sitting with the luggage, we were required to move inside the village walls.

I had grown used to the gentle rocking of the truck, and soon was dozing off to sleep. Just as my eyelids started to really droop, we stopped abruptly. I pushed myself up and stretched out my aching limbs as the door to the back of the truck was opened. I jumped out and saw my mother barking orders to her team of Vigoroths. "Brendan!" she shouted, "I want you to go upstairs and make sure that everything from your old room is now in this new room. Your father also got you a new clock be sure to set it, and he left you a package on your bed."

My first impression of my new abode was that it looked shabby. The entire building looked like it had the plumbing built on the outside. But on the inside it was nice enough, and sure enough, when I entered my room it was like I had never left the Land of Gemstones. I set the new clock I had, and looked around; this room might have even been a bit bigger than my old one. One pleasing new addition to the room was a full body mirror on the closet door, and I won't lie, I took a few moments to check myself out. I was wearing the cutting edge of both style and ninja tools. My pants were jet black made out a material that didn't shimmer in light, and while baggy enough to hide weapons wasn't baggy enough to restrict my movement. I had a black and red shirt which had a collar design resembling a pokeball around my neck. On my bed was a large box gift wrapped and begging to be torn open. The wrappings were dealt with in short order and inside I found some very handy items. First were a brand new pair of running shoes, which when turned on, erased a great deal of friction between the shoes and the ground below them, effectively doubling my top running speed. Next was a bright orange courier's bag with pockets for various kinds of medicines, pokeballs and ninja tools. The final thing in the box was a letter:

_Dear Brendan, _

_ I know that the last couple of years have been tough on you, and it's about to get worse but also better in so many ways. I trained so hard with you the past couple of weeks so that you would be on par with the next ninja academy graduates class. You are ready for your own adventure, in your desk are your official clan pokegloves and headband. The ninjas of this part of the world have metal headbands, we do not, so don't get any crazy ideas about using it in the same way they do, it marks you as a freelancer, a ninja for hire, and more importantly, as a Pokemon trainer. I know you don't have your own pokemon yet, but a friend of mine lives nearby, his name is Professor Birch. Find him and he'll give you your starting pokemon. I know you will make me proud…_

_Your Father, _

_Norman_

I dropped the note and ran over to my desk, and sure enough, there was a pair of pokegloves with the same shade of orange as my bag and a black and red headband. I pulled the gloves on and tightened them to the perfect fit and then with shaking hands, folded the headband and tied it around my forehead, pushing my white head of hair out at a spiky angle in the back. I beamed at my reflection in the mirror and then strutted out the door of my room, down the stairs and into the living room.

My mother shouted, "Hey, Brendan, the news is at your father's new training facility in Konoha, he might be on TV!"

I ran over, but was disappointed when the reporter signed off and the program ended. "Bummer," I said glumly.

"I expect you'll find the professor's house directly east of ours. They're our neighbors you know," my mother said, dropping a hint.

I turned around in shock and exclaimed, "You knew that this was coming?"

"If you want to follow in the footsteps of your father, then you will have to travel far and wide across this world, you're old enough to handle it, and soon you'll have a pokemon of your own, so I trust you, but don't do anything reckless. Okay?"

I nodded and I left my house. I turned to my neighbors and walked over, and then into their house. A homely woman rushed to greet me at the door, "Oh, you must be Brendan, you have your father's eyes! And your mother's smile! Ahaha! My husband is off scrabbling in the grass somewhere outside of the walls of the village, probably in a training area his isn't supposed to be in, but he just can't be stopped. You should just wait for him here, it'll be easier that way! Say, May is upstairs, she's our daughter, and she's been just dying to meet a trainer her age, why don't you go see her?"

Before I could say yes, I found myself being pushed up the stairs by this extremely obnoxious woman. I stumbled through the threshold and into her room and heard the door slam behind me. May was slender, with long, brown bangs, cool blue eyes and an outfit that felt like the female counterpart to my own look. We looked each other up and down a few times and then May offered her hand, blushed and said, "So, uh, I'm May, and it's really nice to meet you. I've been really looking forward to meeting a trainer my age, but most people just want to be ninjas… look, I was really hoping that we could be friends… you know? Ohmygod, I just sounded like soooo silly. But enough about me, which pokemon did you pick?"

"I haven't got to yet, I haven't met your father yet. Do you know where he is?"

"You're kidding, oh man, he gets so caught up with observing pokemon that he would lose his own head if I wasn't usually there. Today he's supposed to be the nearest to the north entrance to the village, check the surrounding training areas."

"Thanks a lot," I said as I walked out of the door and eventually outside. With the knowledge of Professor Birch's whereabouts fresh in my mind I headed north until I came to the training areas. I wander aimlessly until I got to training area 3. There were three odd logs sticking out of the ground like punching posts but showed little to no wear as punching posts, it struck me as odd that they were there, but there was no sign of the professor. The nearby pond was shimmering and blue, and upon looking at it I realized my great thirst. After a quick jog to the edge I waded in a bit and then stuck my head into the cool refreshing water. Right as I was about to come up for air something hit me from behind, and I fell full into the pond. I grabbed the offending item and surfaced.

"HEY! You gotta help me out here!" I heard someone shout.

I looked up to see that a man was now balancing on the middle punching post. He was panicking because two pokemon were snapping at him as he stood on the post. It looked like the pokemon were a Poochyena and a Zigzagoon. He was a bit shorter than average height and round in shape, with familiar brown hair and blue eyes. He shouted, "Don't just stand and stare boy, I'm in dire need of help here! In my messanger bag, there are Pokescrolls! Use two of them now!"

I opened the bag and sure enough, there were three pokescrolls. Long ago, people used highly advanced machines called pokeballs to carry around pokemon, but those have been abandoned for the use of sealing jutsu and scrolls in modern times, they're easier to make. The first pokescroll was green, the second was red and the third was blue. I grabbed the blue and the red ones, jumped out of the pond, and with a flourish, unsealed the two scrolls and released the pokemon within. The scrolls wound back up and after the poof of smoke dissipated, two pokemon stood in front of me, a Mudkip and a Torchic. The scrolls listed the moves that they were currently capable of using. Mudkip knew Tackle and Growl and Torchic knew Scratch and Growl. So I shouted, "Mudkip, use tackle on the Poochyena and Torchic use scratch on the Zigzagoon!"

Mudkip ran up, lowered its shoulder and knocked the unsuspecting Poochyena off its feet and Torchic jumped up and using its sharp talons, scratched the Zigzagoon. The Zigzagoon batted Torchic away with its tail and the Poochyena howled in rage. "Do it again guys!" I shouted.

Mudkip and Poochyena ran and collided, both taking damage, but the Poochyena whimpered and ran off into the forest. Torchic jumped up to scratch Zigzagoon, but it dodged, and then tackled Torchic. While they struggled on the ground I shouted, "Mudkip, help Torchic!"

Mudkip gathered speed, and then threw itself at the Zigzagoon, knocking it off Torchic. Torchic hopped to its feet and bristled in what must have been indignation. The Zigzagoon, looking at both of the pokemon I was using, realized it was outnumbered, and scampered off into the forest. Torchic's chest puffed out in pride and it chirped loudly and Mudkip jumped up and down and squeaked. They turned around to me and I nodded to them, and they started to wander around. The rotund man sat down on the log he had been perched on and wiped the sweat off his brow. He exhaled deeply and said, "Thank you for your help… oh, where are my manners, my name is Professor Birch. Who might you be?"

"Uh, my name is Brendan, my dad sent me looking for you."

"Oh ho? You are your father's son, you pulled that off with aplomb! Why don't we go back to my house, we can talk there."

"Sounds good, but how do I put these two back in the scrolls?"

"Oh, uh, unroll the scroll so that the seal is visible, push a bit of chakra into the seal and it'll take care of itself."

I did so and in two poofs of white smoke Mudkip and Torchic disappeared. The Professor and I walked back into the village proper, navigated the complex streets and eventually returned to his house. We were greeted by a table set up for tea, which I graciously accepted. "So," Birch coughed, "I should really thank you for the help back in the training ground… how about I let you have those two pokemon, Torchic and Mudkip?"

I could only nod I was so happy, Birch laughed and said, "You know… some trainers give their pokemon nicknames… would you like to nickname your pokemon?"

"I was thinking about that, I think I'll call Mudkip Mizu… and Torchic Ho."

"You're your father's son in so many ways. But I couldn't help but to notice that you're not the most experienced in fighting with pokemon. My kid May could teach you a lot I think. Will you meet up with her?"

"Uh, sure, I guess a few pointers can't hurt."

"Great, she should be around where we bumped into each other earlier, trying to catch those two pokemon who gave me so much trouble. Good luck!"

I stood up with a nod and left his house once again. This time because I knew where I was going I got there pretty fast. May was standing in the clearing, her two pokemon, a Treecko and a Wingull fighting against the Zigzagoon and Poochyena. She pulled two scrolls out of her bag and unfurled them with precise movements. They shot out and wrapped around the two wild pokemon tight. The two wild pokemon struggled for a few moments, but suddenly they stopped and with a poof of white smoke, the scrolls untangled themselves, revealing the full seals and the Kanji character for "seal" written in the middle. May whooped, flicked her wrists and the scrolls wound themselves.

"That was amazing!" I gushed, "I've never done anything like that! It must feel amazing!"

May laughed and scratched behind her head, "You think?" she asked, "I don't know, they weren't that high level… but you know what is a great feeling?" I waited with bated breath, "A pokemon battle, how about it Brendan? Me and you?"

I pulled the scrolls out and unsealed Mizu and Ho. "Bring it!"

May shouted, "Gully! Use Water gun on torchic! And Koa, use pound!"

"Mizu go for a tackle attack on that Wingull," I shouted, "And Ho, go for a scratch attack on Wingull too!"

Gully shot a beam of water in the general direction of Ho, but before he could lock on, Mizu slammed into him, knocking him off balance and thus missing Ho completely. Gully bounced on the ground and Ho was quick to jump on top of him and scratch. Gully blasted Ho off with a beam of water. Mizu looked to me for further orders, but May's Treecko punched Mizu right in the jaw. Mizu did a back flip but stayed on his feet.

May shouted, "Koa, use absorb on Mudkip, and Gully, keep up the water gun assault on Torchic!"

I shouted, "Ho, evade the Water gun and try to stop Treecko! Mizu, Tackle Treecko!"

Ho dashed over to scratch Treecko, but didn't make it in time, it used Absorb on Mizu, and Mizu took a super-effective hit. And to make matters worse, the Wingull hit Ho while her back was turned, landing another super effective hit. I panicked for a second, but then I calmed myself down, we could do this. I shouted, "We can do this guys, get up and let's try it again!"

Mizu's eyes flashed blue and Ho's flashed red. Their respective abilities Torrent and Flare turned on, and they both learned new moves. Their scrolls identified the new moves for Mizu as Mud slap and Water Gun while Ho learned Peck and Ember. "Ho use Ember on Treecko," I cried, "and Mizu, keep Wingull busy with a Water Gun of your own!"

Mizu sprayed the Wingull with a powerfull attack, sending the pokemon into a nearby punching post. Ho's chest puffed out and then blew out a cloud of sparks and flames directly at Treecko scoring a super effective hit. Treecko collapsed and both Mizu and Ho turned to face the Wingull. "Scratch! Tackle!" I shouted.

Mizu and Ho executed my orders perfectly, bringing May's Wingull down perfectly. I felt exhilarated. I had won. I grabbed both Mizu and Ho, hugged them close and whooped in exultation. "We did it! Hahaha!"

May brought her two pokemon back into their scrolls and said, "Yeah, well, I can see why my dad gave you those pokemon, you've only been with them a short while but they clearly adore you. Why don't we go back to my Dad's lab, it's near the hokage's office. Oh, and by putting your pokemon back in their scrolls, it heals them automatically. Let's go."

With a poof of smoke I had sealed Mizu and Ho away and I dashed off to catch up with May. She had running shoes too, so it was kind of hard to keep up with her, with the winding streets and alleys that make up Konoha. It was like she wanted to show me up or something. I grinned, there was a way to catch up to her that she wasn't aware of. I had studied ninjutsu, after all. I pushed chakra into my leg muscles to strengthen them and pushed off the ground hard, sending me flying into the air at a speed even May with her running shoes would have trouble matching. Two leaps later I was running with her neck and neck. She quirked an eyebrow at me and then leapt as I had. It was my turn to be shocked, May had studied ninjutsu too. In instants we were hurtling down the main street towards the Hokage building only to touch down at the exact same time at the front gate.

We were both panting and sweating, but nowhere near exhausted. May smiled and I grinned back stupidly. A bit to our left was a large building with a pokeball symbol on it. Neon lighting adorned the outside, identifying it as: Birch Pokemon Laboratory. Birch was waiting for us in the back of the main room. He and May whispered to each other for a moment and Birch's smile went from big to obscene. "It seems I was right trusting you with those pokemon. They seem to like you a great deal. I have a favor to ask you… I don't expect you to do complete this task any time soon. In fact, it may take a lifetime. This is a Pokedex… it records data on Pokemon as a trainer raises them… I would like you to try and collect data for me on every kind of pokemon in the Elemental Nations. Will you do it?"

This would be a great undertaking to finally know what kinds of pokemon evolve into what, where to find rare pokemon… and how they behave. This would be historic. A full pokedex hasn't been heard of since the days of the Legendary Professor Oak. I nodded my head, even if it did take a life time; it was worth devoting my life to. Birch handed me the high tech encyclopedia and I entered my name and let it scan my current pokescrolls. May pulled out my hand and gave me four pokescrolls and said, "You can use these to catch pokemon, I catch ones I think are cute. If you need more, then just stop by here or by our house, I can make them easy enough. I've heard that you can buy high quality ones from certain stands in the market, but you'd have to look very carefully."

"Thanks… I don't even know where I want to start… there are so many pokemon in this world!" I said.

"Out by the south end of town are certain bug types I'd like to know more about…" Birch said, "May won't catch them because she doesn't like bugs… why don't you try your hand at them? They're called Wurmple… and they can evolve into two different kinds of pokemon, Cascoon and Silcoon. From there they evolve into Beautifly and Dustox respectively. Beautifly works best in sunlight, and uses moves that heal party members and immobilize adversaries, while Dustox confounds and attacks enemies using the power of the moon. I'd like a more in depth analysis."

"I've never heard of that before," I said, "I'd like to see that, it's a done deal. But I should go show my Dad first. Where is his training center?"

"Right next to the Ninja Training Academy," May said, "East of here, it's the big complex, you can't miss it."

"Right," I said, "I'll catch up with you guys later!"

I walked out of the lab, adjusted my bag, and took off east. Sooner than I thought, I saw a big complex a couple streets away and I had arrived at the Academy. A bunch of kids a bit younger than me were all celebrating with their parents, they had apparently just graduated from school. One kid didn't look so happy, and he noticeably didn't have a ninja headband on. He looked absolutely heart-broken. He was wearing and all orange outfit with blue highlights, and had goggles on his head, keeping back his spiky blonde hair. I patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm sure you'll make it next year buddy, just try hard and you can do anything."

He glared at me and said, "This is the third time I've tried and I really wanted it this time. Besides, you're no ninja. What do you know?"

I twitched with anger, but shoved it down, the kid was sad and lashing out, not my fault, I should be the better person and let it go… so I did. And I said, "I'm actually an official merc-nin, my headband is different from the ones you ninjas wear, but no different symbolically. I know my fair share."

"He's right you know…" said a new voice. This guy had long turquoise hair that hung around his head and judging from his attire, he was a teacher, "My name is Mizuki… I actually know something that can help Naruto with his current problem, Mr. Merc-nin. Leave him to me."

Something was off about that guy, but I didn't say anything, and let him lead Naruto off. I would later regret that action. But I didn't know how much of a creep Mizuki was… I thought he was an odd teacher who meant well. I soon noticed the Dojo that was inside the complex with a picture of my father above the door. I entered and there he was, standing in the middle of the empty dojo. He was absently checking and rechecking several things around his new training space, the punching dummies, and pokescroll targets. "Um… Dad?" I asked.

He turned around surprised and said, "Oh, Brendan… I didn't expect you for a while. I expect you met with Professor Birch. Which pokemon did you choose?"

"I got Mudkip and Torchic. I'm a mercenary for our clan now… and I have this pokedex thing to do… but I'm not really sure where to go from here. I mean I've dreamt of this day for so long… I'm kind of lost as to my next step."

He smiled and shook his head, "I understand, I was the same way once upon a time. Well, I would prefer you to take missions and earn some money… but in order to do that, you need to get the proper certification. In the neighboring academy building a woman named Roxanne is a powerful pokemon trainer who has been identified as a test of sorts for new trainers. We'll call her a Leader. There are Eight Leaders throughout the Elemental Nations, each one has a special badge which identifies up and coming trainers as certain ranks based on how many badges they have.

"Right now… you'd be considered less than a Novice, you have absolutely no badges. But if you beat Roxanne, you are known as an official novice trainer. Novices are allowed to take on low level missions. If you get another badge, you are called an apprentice trainer. Next comes Disciple. At Disciple, a trainer can take on C Rank missions by themselves. Once you get another bad you become an Adept equivalent to the ninja rank Chunin, capable of leading a team of mercenaries on C rank missions and taking B rank missions. What do you become after getting five badges? I'll tell you once you get four."

"So I should take on Roxanne?"

"No, no, no, you should go and catch some more pokemon, and train them a bit. Learn different strategies and try to apply them in a battle…"

My father stopped in mid sentence and looked to the person who had opened the door. He was average-height, with sloppy green hair, and sickly thin. As I looked at him, I realized he had bags under his eyes and his breathing was raspy. He met my eyes for no longer than a second and then promptly looked away. I stepped to the side and he walked up to my father, coughed and then said, "Um, So I came by when you said to… you know… to catch my first pokemon…"

My father nodded, "Yes, Wally, this is my son Ruby… he'll show you the ropes, and I'll lend you this Zigzagoon."

Wally caught the pokescroll my father passed him and then looked shyly over to me. I patted him on the back and said, "Well then… let's get a move on!"

So we navigated the village's complex streets towards the south gate. The main gate was impressive, to say the least. The giant green doors stood at least 25 yards tall, the only entrance through the 25 foot thick stone wall that surrounded the entire village and training areas. We walked out and into the surrounding forest. I picked a grassy path and with a carefree swagger sauntered down it, Wally trailing behind. After maybe fifteen minutes we reached a clearing with tall grass, a great place to find wild pokemon. I waded in and Wally followed a bit too closely for my own comfort. Then it happened, two wild Wurmple jumped out of the grass to attack. The story goes that in ancient times, pokemon being raised by trainers would talk to wild pokemon about how much better their lives were with people, and wild pokemon became jealous. Wild pokemon supposedly attack people so that a trainer might find them strong and take them in. The two wurmples in front of me certainly looked ready to fight.

"Let's Rock and Roll, Ho!" I shouted as I released my pokemon, "Ember!"

Ho puffed up her chest and shot out a cloud of sparks and fire, hitting both the Wurmples dead on. Ember was super effective, but the two Wurmples stood back up and launched a simultaneous Poison Sting attack. Ho got hit by both and I could see that she was poisoned. But these two Wurmples had spunk; there was a glint in their eyes. I reached to my belt and grabbed two pokescrolls. I opened the packaging seal, and remembering May's precise movements, flicked my wrists and then swung my arms out and then in. The scrolls did the rest. The paper shot out and encased both pokemon in paper, and in instants, white smoke poofed out, confirming the capture. I recalled Ho and if all went according to plan, and then one would evolve into Cascoon and the other Silkcoon. I would nickname them then. I turned around to Wally and he had stars in his eyes. He had clasped his hands together and said, "That was…. Awesome!"

"Well, now you try," I said.

He gulped, nodded and then took three steps forward. A Wild Ralts appeared! Wally looked back at me and said, "Right, um… Go! Zigzagoon!"

In a poof of smoke, my father's Zigzagoon dashed out into the battlefield. Wally shouted, "Tackle attack!"

Zigzagoon… zig-zagged and then rammed into the wild Ralts. Ralts fell back onto it's butt and growled in displeasure. Wally recalled Zigzagoon and then said, "Okay, Pokescroll time!"

Wally lamely opened the scroll, and shot it out at the Ralts… and missed. The Ralts looked over at the scroll curiously. It brought its face close to it, but then backed away, and tried to touch it with its toe. The scroll shot to life and entangled the Ralts. After a good thirty seconds of struggle, the Ralts was caught. Tears shone in Wally's eyes. "Brendan… I did it! I really caught a pokemon!"

I wasn't sure if that counted in any way shape or form, but I didn't feel like bursting his bubble, so I nodded and said, "You sure did. Let's go back to the gym."

Wally led the way all the way back to my father's dojo. He triumphantly thanked my dad and handed him back his Zigzagoon. Then he marched out of the dojo without as much as a look back. "Good for him," my father said.

"So, you said I should train some… where?" I asked.

"Well, it's hard to beat pokemon on pokemon battles, but those are rare nowadays. But repetition is just as important. Go find a secluded spot in the forest and have your pokemon go through courses of action against an imaginary enemy."

"Right. I'll work on that," I said as I turned around to leave.

I left the main city part of the village and headed into the training areas. I found a small clearing in some dense forest and set to work. My Wurmples could use a very limited move set: Tackle, String Shot, and Poison Sting. Due to their small body sizes Tackle didn't do much damage, and the very nature of poison sting makes it a move which does little damage. But String Shot's string was strong, durable and very sticky. That was when an idea came to me. The Wurmples would attach themselves to my wrists and use string shot to shoot webbing. While not Spiderman caliber webbing, it was definitely good enough to slow down something big and scary, or fast and small. So then I began training them to feel the flick of my wrist which told them to shoot, and I trained myself to aim. By the time I felt confident, it was already well past nightfall. I looked up and it was at least midnight. I was nearly exhausted.

I jumped up and into the trees so I could speedily get back to my house and my waiting bed. But after about five minutes of travelling, I heard a scream nearby. Someone was in pain! I turned and headed directly towards the noise, arriving in seconds. Naruto, Mizuki and another Konoha ninja were all standing in a clearing. But something was wrong. The third man was pinned up against a nearby cabin by kunai, but he had a Konoha Hitite, he was a Konoha ninja! Mizuki then said, "As you know, ten years ago, this village was attacked by the Nine Tailed Fox Spirit, but the Fourth Hokage beat the beast. You know this, but what you don't know is about the Special village law created the next day!"

"I've never heard of any special law…" Naruto said to himself.

"It's no wonder, see the law is that nobody in the village is allowed to tell you how the Fourth beat the Nine Tailed Fox. He gave it a human form. Naruto! You are the Nine Tailed Fox! The very same one who killed Iruka's Parents."

The other man in the clearing shouted, "STOP IT!"

Mizuki continued, "You have been lied to by EVERYONE! The Hokage you adore, all the villagers, even Iruka here, secretly HATES YOU! NOBODY WILL EVER ACCEPT YOU! AND NOW… I'm going to kill you."

I stealthily released my two wurmples and they assumed the position. Mizuki drew a gigantic Ninja Star, and made it start to spin. I tried to stop its motion but it cut through Wurmple's webbing. Mizuki tossed the star at Naruto, but the third man, Iruka, stopped it with his own body. "Oh, God…" I said, in complete shock, what was going on here?

Even Pokemon trainers like me understood to fear Tailed Beasts. The only way to stand up to them was extreme training or a Legendary Pokemon. But this kid, Naruto, he wasn't a monster. I knew it, I knew it because pokemon flee before Tailed Beasts, and my pokemon weren't going anywhere. By the time I snapped back into reality, Iruka was crying over Naruto, whether in pain or some kind of emotional realization, I didn't know, but he was already in critical condition. I did the only thing my conscience would allow, I saw Iruka pull the shuriken out of his own back and hurl it at Mizuki. I aimed the next round of String shots at Mizuki's feet, immobilizing him. But Mizuki caught the shuriken in mid flight.

He turned around and saw me, cut his feet free and threw both his shuriken at me, pinning my hands next to the nearby trees. I screamed in pain, luckily my Wurmples were on the inside of my arms, and were thus free to use, "Poison Sting!" I cried.

Hundreds of Senbon-like structures shot out and made Mizuki move farther away from me. He sneered and said, "I'll take care of you two later, all that matters now is killing Naruto."

He dashed off into the forest. Iruka jumped up and freed me from the shuriken. My Wurmples dropped off my arms and looked up at me, they looked close to tears. "I'm okay guys… We'll get stronger and then next time, I'm confident we'll do better."

They bounced up and down and then sprayed string shots into the air, eventually covering themselves. "What are they doing?" Iruka asked.

"Evolving," I said, and despite the serious pain in my hands, I smiled. The webbing began to glow and eventually formed into a Silcoon and Cascoon. "Alright… Silcoon, from here on out, you get the name of the Shinto goddess of the sun, Ameterasu and Cascoon, you shall be her reflection, Tsukuyomi the moon."

I recalled them into their pokescrolls and turned to Iruka, "Take care of Naruto, I know that isn't a tailed beast. He's been misunderstood…"

Then I collapsed and drifted into unconsciousness. I woke up in my room, with perfectly healed hands. I shot up to a sitting position to see my mother sitting at the edge of my bed. She walked over and slapped me upside the head, and then screamed, "I told you NOT TO DO ANYTHING RECKLESS!"

I flinched, covered my head with my hands and said, "It couldn't be helped, I had to get involved, they were gonna kill Naruto."

"Like father like son," sighed Professor Birch, whom I hadn't noticed, he was standing with May, who looked concerned and a lady in a pink nursing outfit with pink hair. Birch pointed to the lady in pink and said, "This is Nurse Joy, she's your clan's personal doctor and pokemon doctor, she healed those hands of yours perfectly."

"Thank you very much," I said with a bow of my head.

She smiled and said, "The best thanks I could get would be for you to not try to get crucified by shuriken… next time, dodge."

"I'll keep that in mind," _bitch,_ I thought, _like I didn't try._

"I'm sure he tried…" said May, "that Mizuki scumbag was a Chunin, he must have anticipated Brendan's movements."

I had to stop myself from communicating my agreement. "But on the plus side, I think I'm ready to fight Roxanne!" I said.

"We'll see about that…" My father entered the room, but the person speaking was the woman in tow behind him. She had dark hair with great volume and a pink bow. She was wearing a schoolgirl's uniform with pink stockings as well. "I'm Roxanne, and I'll make some time for you the day after tomorrow at the Ninja Academy at 9 am sharp… more than enough time for you to be back in tip-top shape."

"I'll be there," I said with a grin. I was one step closer to being great like my father.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Mizu – Mudkip<br>Ho – Torchic  
>Tsukuyomi – Cascoon<br>Ameterasu – Silcoon

Badges:  
>NONE<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

At the appointed time I strolled into Roxanne's training area. She was reading a book, her legs propped up on a nearby professor's desk. She didn't look up but said, "Just on time… perfect. So, behind me is a room that was built to support a healthy ecosystem. I have two chapters left in this book, get ready for me to come into this room. You may use up to three pokemon for our battle. Begin."

I ran into the room she had pointed to and was impressed. The environment seemed very real, the trees definitely were. But the main battle area was rocky terrain in a clearing. I recently would have used my Wurmples to slow down my opponents as wrist mounted string shooters, but they had evolved and were too big and clumsy to fit onto my wrists. Roxanne had said that I could use three pokemon, but she hadn't said how… or that I show them to her. the tree's canopy's created lots of shadows, perfect for hiding a Silcoon or Cascoon.

I hid Ameterasu, my Silcoon, in a low bush with instructions to web up anything that came within range of her webbing. Tsukuyomi, my Cascoon, on the other hand I put high into some tree branches with instructions to web anything that figured out Ameterasu's location. I jumped back into the main battle area, carefully in range of both my pokemon and waited. Roxanne didn't keep me waiting, she looked around, sighed and then said, "Well then, my name is Roxanne, and I train using Rock pokemon to learn about all kinds of battling strategies. Let us begin! I choose you, Geodude!"

She had rock pokemon, and that meant I had to use… "Come on out, Sui!"

"Rock Smash!" Roxanne yelled.

"Water Gun Barrage!" I bellowed.

Geodude started to chuck boulders at Sui, but Sui sent out highly pressurized water gun attacks in quick succession, deflecting the boulders and then scoring a super effective hit, and an instant K.O.

"How's that for strategy?" I taunted.

Roxanne smiled, "Did you think you were the only person to set traps?"

I barely got, "Oh, shit!" out before the ground rumbled and an Onix shot forth and tackled Sui, sending him flying. "Now! Ameterasu!"

Silky webbing shot out from the bushes and stuck Onix fast to the dirt below it. Sui jumped back up onto its feet and growled its defiance. "Great! Use Water Gun again!"

Onix was roaring as it tried to pull itself free, so Sui dashed up to its mouth and shot another barrage of watery bullets right down Onix's throat, scoring a Super Effective Critical hit. Onix went down like… well, a rock. Roxanne's eyes narrowed, "You may have beaten me thus far, but your Mudkip is barely standing, and your little Silcoon can barely help, I bet you caught it wild, and couldn't do damage if it tried. This is my trump card, Let's show these guys real strategy: Nosepass!"

"Fat Chance, Water Gun Sui!" I shouted.

Nosepass dodged without any instruction, it had been trained well. Roxanne shouted, "Thunder Wave!"

A blue ring of electricity shot out from Nosepass, striking Sui. Sui stopped moving, its entire body rendered immobile. "Ameterasu! Tsukuyomi! Keep Nosepass immobile and then start attacking, keep him at bay until Sui can move again!"

Double String shots rained down on Nosepass, sticking him to the floor and then its arms to its sides. Tsukuyomi sprayed down a rain of Poison sting attacks and Ameterasu launched herself at Nosepass wholeheartedly. This didn't do much but it shut Roxanne up while she tried to think herself out of her current situation. So long as Nosepass couldn't move, there wasn't much she could do besides send out another wave of electricity, thus immobilizing everybody involved with the match. "Fight it Sui! Break free and end this match! Water Gun!"

Sui struggled, coughed, I saw tears run down his face with effort and then he coughed/shot a water bullet right at Nosepass, ending the match. I had won. I recalled all my Pokemon as did Roxanne and she collapsed to her knees. She murmured, "It seems that my strategies were not good enough. I need work… But I can do that later, right now… here is the Stone Badge, it makes you eligible to take missions of D rank by yourself and C ranks with a team of at least 3 more. I'm going to go into training, and when I'm done, I want a rematch."

"I'd like that, but I'll be getting better too. See you later."

I walked out of her gym and back towards my father's dojo. I entered and with a triumphant smile said, "I'm clear to take missions now. So do I get them from you or…?"

"That's great. And normally you'll get you missions from whoever pays. Right now, that's Konoha, but if you're ever in Suna, Kumo or whatever, you can take missions for them too. As it happens, I'm on my way to see old man Hokage about some disturbance, you can follow along."

I nodded and followed my dad just a bit behind him and to the left as we left the dojo, and maneuvered towards the main street. At the northern most end of the village, just under the cliffs adorned with the visages of the previous hokages, was the Hokage's building. The Hokage gave out missions from a courtyard area in the eastern wing of the facility, so that's where we headed. Eventually we got to a closed door and my father took a seat in a nearby chair so I followed suit. Before long, the door opened and who but Naruto Uzumaki came barreling out of the door. He came screeching to a halt when he saw me and said, "Oh, hey, it's you… Brendan, right?"

"Yeah," I said, "I'd heard you graduated. Congratulations."

"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for before, you stuck up for me, and… I won't forget it. That's a promise. The Promise of a Lifetime! Are you here to get a mission from Grandpa Hokage too?"

"Yeah," I said, "Just taking care of business with my Dad first. You just get your first mission?"

"Some cat got loose," said Naruto, his eyes narrowing in annoyance, "and we have to catch it, it's the fire daimyo's wife's cat… so I guess it's important, but I'd rather do something really important. Like an A ranked mission, something that my skills would be best suited for."

"And what skills would those be… Deadlast?" asked a new guy. He had raven black hair, spiked backwards like a parrot, cool black eyes, and a blue shirt with a peculiar brand logo on the back.

"You'll see soon enough Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, "Believe it!"

"You'll never even compare to Sasuke!" said another new person, dressed in red with pink hair and hearts for eyes, "he's the best there is!"

Naruto looked disheartened, "Aw, c'mon Sakura, he's not that much better than me."

"In skill level, he is," said another new person, in jonin garb, spiky gray hair and his Konoha Headband covering one eye.

"Not you too, Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto in disbelief, "I'll show you guys what I'm made of, I'll catch this cat before you guys are even out of the building, BELIEVE IT! Later Brendan!"

I waved as Naruto created a cloud of smoke as he sprinted away. I waved as I absently drank in his energy; it was refreshing to see someone so upbeat. Then Naruto ran back and, scratching his head absently, asked, "Wait, what does the cat look like again?"

I deadpanned, I could see why Naruto was called Deadlast… his grades were abysmal and he had the attention span of a coked up squirrel. My father had an eyebrow raised in judgment, and his eyes did not look kind. He didn't like Naruto. Before I could say anything he stood up and said, "Let's get moving Brendan, we've wasted too much time already watching these fool's antics."

I had misjudged his ire; he didn't like any of them, not just Naruto. I waved as we closed the door behind us going into the Hokage's courtyard. The old man was seated in the center of the large table that dominated the room. Iruka was nearby, he nodded to me and flashed a smile. I did the same. The Lord Hokage looked up from his papers and said, "Ah, Norman, it's good to see you, there are some troubling rumors considering some pokemon users…"

"What can I do to help?" My father asked.

"Iruka, I believe you best know all the details…"

Iruka stood up and said, "As you know, recently, the Devon Corporation has set up its new Main Research and Development center in Konoha. To ensure that the process went smoothly, the President of the corporation came and personally oversaw the project, and smitten with our village, decided to stay. So he also built a Corporate HQ. Recently the R and D center was attacked by a pokemon user with a peculiar bandana. He was after something inside, but he couldn't get inside the vault the plans were kept in, so he left. They want a pokemon user to guard a courier from the R and D center to the Corporate HQ with the plans, so the president can make a decision on their next move. The footage we have from the assault shows the attacker using a pokemon called Poochyena and another called Carvanha."

"I'll stop you there, those pokemon are basic… my son here, Brendan is cleared to start taking missions now and I have the utmost confidence that he will succeed. I'll return to my dojo now… if you come up with a mission that you need me for, then call me, but tasks like this are perfect for a beginner like Brendan."

I nodded and said, "I'll take the mission."

The Hokage's eyebrow arched and said, "oh ho? Okay then youngster… let's see if you're made of the same stuff as your father. I expect this mission done to the upmost of your ability."

I nodded, and asked, "So where is the R and D facility?"

Iruka showed me on his map and I headed out into action. The R and D facility was in the southern quarter of the village, fairly large and locked up tight. I touched down from my leaping bursts right by the main security gate and a guard shouted, "Identify yourself!"

"My name is Brendan, I'm here on behalf of the hokage for an escort mission!"

"Man o man, we could have used you a few minutes ago, that idiot Ikki decided to go off and try to deliver the blueprints by himself. He headed outside the village to try to avoid the heavily used streets and go in through the west gate near the HQ building. You've got to catch up to him!"

My eyes widened, that was the worst thing he could have done, on the crowded streets if he'd been jumped by a thug, ninja would have been there to help him. Outside the walls though… nobody would even know he was in trouble. So I dashed off at full speed for the south gate, reaching it in record time and then I started to comb the outer wall along the way to the western gate. Eventually I saw a man running while holding a brief case, jumping at every shadow. I landed in front of him and he stopped so fast he landed on his ass. "Don't run, the Hokage sent me to help you!" I shouted and he calmed down, "You are Ikki from the Devon Corporation, right?"

He nodded and I heard growling come from a nearby bush. From the shrubbery walked out a man in black, leather pants, a blue and white striped shirt and a blue bandana with a stylized "A" on it. "Finally, the blueprints the boss wants. Fork 'em over 'Ikki'."

I planted my foot firmly in between the two of them and said, "I assume you're the thug who used pokemon to attack civilians?"

"I'll do whatever I have to do in order to accomplish the goals of Team Aqua! This is a huge conflict that neither of you two could even hope to understand. I'm but a pawn in the game, so that makes you less than a pawn. So I'll say it again, fork over the plans!"

This time the Team Aqua Grunt brought out two pokescrolls. So I mimicked him with two of my own. His eyes widened and he said, "It doesn't matter, my pokemon are strong! Come on out Poochyena… and Carvanha!"

"I choose you, Tsukuyomi and Ameterasu!" I shouted as I summoned my own pokemon.

"Ha! What could those pathetic things do? They can't even move on their own!"

"Show 'em what your made of guys, Tackle that Poochyena!"

Both of my pokemon rammed into the Poochyena, knocking the sense out of its tiny head. Then both of my pokemon turned to face Carvanha and I shouted, "Again, but at Carvanha!"

My pokemon both rammed into Carvanha, and while they hurt the enemy pokemon, Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi both came away hurt too. Then I remembered, Carvanha has the ability: rough body! Physical attacks hurt both the attacker and the attacked. I changed my strategy, "Get some distance! Then use Poison Sting!"

Ameterasu got back fast enough, but Tsukuyomi found himself being chomped on by the monster fish. Ameterasu got enough distance that it felt comfortable and then it shot a barrage of poison stings at its enemy. Carvanha dropped Tsukuyomi and I saw anger blossom in Tsukuyomi's eyes. But then something caught my eye in the corner of my vision, Ameterasu was glowing! The artificial eyes on its cocoon had gone dull, and something was moving on the inside. A Beautifly burst forth. I was stunned, and ecstatic. But Tsukuyomi was not to be outdone, and bashed into the Carvanha again despite taking damage and started to glow himself. Soon he, too, had evolved, but he was now a Dustox. And as they had evolved, they learned new moves, so I shouted, "Double Gust attack!"

Both of my newly evolved pokemon flew just out of the reach of Carvanha and started flapping their wings at incredibly speed, generating a gust of wind so strong it would hurt Carvanha. The twin gusts hit the monster fish from opposite sides, and knocked it out. The Aqua Grunt recalled his pokemon and said, "You… you haven't heard the last of Team Aqua. We'll be back for those blueprints!"

Then he ran off into the forest. I was going to recall my pokemon but then I felt that maybe Ikki might feel better with them out so I let them flutter around us as we walked to the HQ building. Ameterasu settled on my head once we entered the building and Tsukuyomi sat on my arm as he once had when he was a wurmple. We ascended to the top floor and Ikki handed his briefcase to the Devon President, an elderly man in an old school grey suit that matched both his hair and his eyes. The President looked over at me and said, "Thank you for all your help… I'll make sure the payment is sent to the Hokage with all due haste. And if I may be so bold, I may like to acquire your services again very soon Mr. Brendan."

"You know where to find me," I said with a smile and I left.

Sooner than I would have thought possible I was walking into the hokage's courtyard. The Lord Hokage looked up from his papers again and smiled to see me. I could tell that he was a good man, if a bit distant. "Reporting in from my mission sir," I said, "Mission was a success, although I did encounter the thug, he was no trouble. He did make an alarming fact clear however."

"What's that?" asked Iruka.

"That he was a member of an organization called Team Aqua. He implied it was a very large organization."

"I haven't heard anything about them…" said the Hokage, "But I'll have someone keep a look-out just in case."

I nodded and then asked, "And as to my payment sir?"

"Mercenaries and their paychecks…sheesh…" the Hokage grumbled, and tossed me an envelope with the traditional amount of cash for a D rank mission. I counted the bills, which irritated Iruka, I bowed with a smile and said, "Oh, and please let me know when Devon sends for my next mission."

"The Audacity!" cried Iruka, horrified, "I can see you have a good heart but you simply must learn manners young man!"

"I like him, he's got fire," said the Hokage with a smile.

I found myself ushered out of the courtyard and with no other business to attend to, I went home. My mother and father were eating dinner as I arrived on our doorstep. Once I was inside, I told them about the mission and my mother congratulated me, but my father grilled me about Team Aqua. "Why are you so interested in that guy's story anyway dad?" I asked.

"It just… sounds… familiar." He said lamely.

Conversation moved around rather pointlessly for a while, and eventually we finished eating.

The next day I went to the Hokage's courtyard again. "Hello again, got any missions for me today sir?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Recently three of our newest genin class proved to their instructors that they will have what it takes to become fully fledged ninjas. But our relationship with pokemon trainers hasn't always been as tight as I would like and some of them have little to no inkling of their true potential. Over the next three days, you will have practice matches with these new squads to open their eyes to the power and peculiarity of Pokemon. After your match, I encourage you to explain in detail how their personal style of fighting could be augmented by fighting with a pokemon trainer or a pokemon of their own. And then recommend species of pokemon for them to individually acquire. We intend to integrate pokemon training into this set of recruits as an experiment for the years to come."

"Where do I start sir?"

"Team Kurenai is meeting at training ground 3 at 3pm for this exercise. Be there at 2 to meet with Kurenai to get some intel on the team, they don't know that you're coming, and you will essentially be ambushing them. Be creative and do not hold back any punches. Oh, and Kurenai is of average height, jet black hair and unusual red eyes."

"Yessir," I said and left the room.

At 2 o'clock I had already been waiting for Kurenai, and she was exactly on time. I had been sitting on one of the punching posts admiring the sky, and I heard her footsteps. I turned around and sure enough a woman matching the description of Kurenai was waiting for me. She arched her eyebrows and said, "I must admit, I didn't expect someone so young to be a mercenary."

"What were you expecting?"

"A big man with large arms and lots of hair, acting pompous and full of himself, bragging about the many victories he's fought, and lying about all the backs that he's stabbed. You know, a slimeball with no loyalty but to the one with the most cash."

I was almost struck dumb. True, there were people like that, but not me. I would never be that. I walked up to her and said, "I don't appreciate your tone. I take jobs to put food on the table, and if you have qualms about not having loyalty to a piece of land and the people who inhabit it. My family used to, but that was a long time ago, we don't have anything left but the stories and the skills our ancestors passed down, do not mock my current position."

She appeared completely unfazed, and said, "I don't care what stories you tell. I do not trust the words of mercenaries."

"Look, I may not be an adult like you… but I understand what my father is doing by settling here. He's going to become valuable, and then he's going to petition to join the clans of Konoha…" I said, "I don't know who I'm assuming betrayed your family… but it wasn't me, or my dad. I'm here to help your students and if you don't want that, then you don't really have your students in mind."

She gaped at me like I'd slapped her. She sighed and said, "I've been monitoring your responses, if you were lying… I would know. But you're not. I guess I'll let you earn my trust. Starting with this exercise. My team consists of Sensor types. First is Kiba Inuzuka, he fights alongside his faithful ninja hound Akamaru. He'll be able to smell you as a human in this forest area. Next is Hinata Hyuuga, she possesses the Byakugan, a Kekei Genkai, which will allow her to see you through solid objects and from any angle, however, she does have blind spots directly behind her head, it's about an inch squared on her skull and grows steadily bigger the farther away from her you are. Shino uses ninja beetles, and will be able to sense your chakra. In this kind of battle, I would advise you to use your abilities to counter each of their main abilities and then take them out one by one. I want them to learn the importance of team work and your pokemon."

"Thanks for the tips," I said, a bit unnerved, I was not sure if I could trust her information, but it was a start, and if that idea was a trick, I could always just try to beat them into a pulp. I had been learning taijutsu from my mother's machoke since I was seven. So I sprung into action, nearby the spring I released Sui and said, "Okay, I want you to hide under a rock at the bottom of the stream, we'll see how great this girl's attention to detail is. I need you to keep your antennae on high alert, when Ka jumps up and down three times in a row it's time for you to make your appearance."

Sui nodded and jumped into the water. I launched myself into the forest and set Tsukuyomi and Ameterasu to hiding in the forest canopy. Then I identified a large mud puddle, it wasn't the greatest solution, but it was all I had. I rolled around in it until I was covered in it and soaking, then I hid near the main clearing in the trees and briefly gave Kurenai the thumbs up. Kurenai walked away to get her students and I released Ka. I set her down by a bush and told her to hide and that if I snapped my fingers, she should jump up and down three times; she would be my secret weapon. Eventually Kurenai walked back into the clearing, and in tow were her three students. Kiba was obviously the one with the puppy sitting on his head, Hinata was the only girl, and that meant that the other kid with the covered face and the sun glasses was Shino. Kurenai said, "Alright, we're here, so here is today's training scenario: We will be learning about how to counter ambushes with unusual or new abilities."

Kiba demanded, "What's the first strategy?"

"Oh," Kurenai said with a smile, "I don't get to tell you, this is a 'trial by fire' if you will, I'll be watching, and I expect you to figure it out quickly."

Then she disappeared in a poof of smoke. I guess that was the "go-ahead". They all dropped into athletic stances and Kiba sniffed the air and barked, "I smell something out of the ordinary… this whole area smells like someone we don't know."

"I'll put out my bugs…" Shino stated.

"Um… I guess I'll use my byakugan," stuttered Hinata.

They were working together quite nicely. But I had planned for that. Hinata would see Sui and go for the pond, Kiba would come to me and Ho, and Shino would be lured away by Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi. Then they all said, "I think I've got something… follow me."

Shino shot off towards his appointed area, as did Kiba, but Hinata waited behind a moment and said, "Wait… what?"

She started to decide whether to go for Sui, where Kiba was going or where Shino was going, but she was dead locked in the decision. I snapped my fingers and set off a chain reaction which resulted in Sui shooting out of the water and attacking Hinata with a powerful Tackle attack. But Kiba had seen Hinata not follow, and then Sui attack. He hesitated and then went back for Hinata, helping her up. Maybe they weren't complete idiots. "Ka, sneak up on Shino and burn his bugs… tell Ameterasu to come back and help me here. Go!"

Ho scampered off into the forest to get Shino. Sui was ducking into and out of the water to spray Kiba's dog with jets of water and had splashed mud into Hinata's eyes. I quickly set up a kunai trap and selected a new spot far away from my original spot, and set up another trap. When I got to my third spot I triggered my first trap. Five kunai shot out at Kiba, one nearly getting him in the left calf. He fell to a knee but threw some kunai back to where my trap had been. Then I triggered the second trap. Kiba dodged and kept his balance this time, and Hinata finally cleaned the mud out of her eyes. Kiba shouted, "Shit, we're surrounded! Hinata can you see anything in the foliage?"

Hinata focused on me and I saw recognition dawn in her eyes. She realized that I was the one outnumbered. Sui hit her with a excellently timed water gun, once again knocking her over and by the look of it, the air out of her lungs. I shouted, "Sui, knock the damn dog out, not down!"

Sui nodded, jumped out of the water and tackled the dog into the water, and brought him down. Kiba started to give chase, but suddenly Ameterasu was by my side, and I noticed she knew a new move: Sleep powder. "Use sleep powder…" I whispered and she flew out and blew green particles right into Kiba's face. He collapsed into the stream, knocked out. I liked the odds much better now. Two on one when one of the two appears to be generally incompetent? I'll take those odds any day. Now was the time to get involved more personally. "Ameterasu! Pull Shino back here, we'll gang up on him…"

Ameterasu flew off to obey as I pulled Kiba out of the water and onto dry land. Sui deposited the dog next to his master. I patted Sui on the head and said, "When I snap my fingers, you come out again, now back to your hiding spot."

Sui nodded and leapt into the water. Hinata was picking herself up again, and wiping the mud out of her eyes. I felt bad for her. I'd been training for years on how to fight, and they'd only been learning for years about how to fight. That's no contest. I tied her hands with ninja wire and held a kunai to her neck and waited. Tsukuyomi careened out of the brush and upon identifying me, sped towards me. He had learned a new attack too: Confusion. After a few moments of calming him down he fluttered over to Kiba and settled on the unconscious guy's chest. Ameterasu flew out of the forest too, but this time alongside Shino. She flew towards me and settled on my head. Then Ka came out, her eyes flashing red, clearly she'd taken damage, because her hidden ability, Flare, had been activated. Shino looked for cover, dove behind a punching post and was quite suddenly facing me holding his team mate hostage. Well, me pretending to hold his teammate hostage… I don't think I could ever actually kill someone in cold blood, but I could pretend with the best of 'em.

Then I felt something cold and sharp against my own throat. I looked over my shoulder to see Kiba standing there, a smirk on his face and Tsukuyomi clenched in his other hand. I didn't even hesitate, "Confusion…" I whispered.

Kiba's eyes flashed a multitude of colors and as he dropped Tsukuyomi, he began to swing his kunai wildly, eventually stabbing his own leg. Blood spattered on Hinata and she fainted. At that point, realistically, she was dead weight. I looked over just in time to see Shino punt Ka into the pond. I snapped my fingers and shouted, "Sui, save Ka!"

Sui shot out from under his boulder and caught Ka just before she hit the water. I recalled her to her scroll and I pointed at Shino and said, "This has gone too far, Ameterasu, Sleep Powder."

As the green dust hit Shino, he fell asleep and fell over on his side, in addition, Kiba stopped running around in total confusion and collapsed. All three of them were down and out for the count. I recalled all of my pokemon and waited. Kurenai appeared next to me and said, "You don't mess around, do you? That'll either teach them a powerful lesson or break their confidence…"

"I'm sorry I let things get so out of control. They're a scrappy bunch, with a bit of team work they would have beaten me."

"Were we watching the same battle?"

"I didn't have much left… I have a lot of tricks, but truth be told, I probably need to improve on my pokemon's attacking ability. Plus, I'm exhausted, I never had to move that fast. Help me tie them up."

After I tied her students to the punching posts, I tossed some water on them one by one, waking them up. Kiba glowered, Shino was completely unreadable and Hinata looked a mixture of sad and terrified. "So," I started out, "My name is Brendan, and today, it's my job to teach you two lessons. First and foremost, teamwork. You guys acted completely out of sync. And while I understand that all three of you are sensor types, maybe you guys should combine your information to better understand the big picture of a battle. If you three had fought together against any one or two of my pokemon, you'd have been able to pick us off, one by one until you got to me, and then three on one is sorry odds indeed. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Shino and Kiba nodded, but Hinata looked lost. "Hinata, if you had pointed out the different directions that everybody had been going from the get-go… then maybe you guys would have won, and I would be tied to a log right now. I'm sure that all of you will be great ninjas one day, Kurenai wouldn't have taken you one if she didn't think so. So listen to her lessons very carefully, and work together to solve problems. You will be great, if you work hard at it. Okay?"

She nodded, and blushed. "So, what is the s-s-second lesson?" she asked.

"You guys all know what Pokemon are, right?"

They nodded, so I continued, "It's my job to analyze your fighting style as ninjas and then recommend to you which kinds you should capture and then use to help you succeed. I think that Shino would best use the pokemon known as Nincada… the recruit pokemon. It's a beetle pokemon that is known for working well with Genin, and it has a very peculiar evolutionary progression that will grow along with the Genin into the Chunin and Jonin levels. Make sure to always carry an extra pokescroll around with you when raising a Nincada. It can be found in certain Konoha training areas and outside the gates of the village in Nincada enclaves. Next is you, Kiba. I'd recommend Poochyena, it's a lot like your dog here, but better in a pokemon battle. It is also known for its relentlessness, a trait I'm sure that you can identify with. When it evolves it becomes known for its teamwork skills and predisposition so try catching more than one and they are quite easy to find. And finally, Hinata, I'd recommend the Pokemon Ralts, it's a lot like you, sweet, kind, quiet, and it has great potential. They are very rare, but when evolved all the way to its Third Evolutionary stage, it is known to make even serial killers become overcome with Lethargy and calmness, a trait that you could use against the enemy in conjunction with the pokemon's powerful psychic attacks. I encountered one the other day just outside the village southern gate. So start looking there. I hope I wasn't too rough on you guys, and that you'll forgive me for teaching you a hard lesson the hard way. Because you guys are good sports, I'll recommend that you guys buy Pokescrolls from the Professor Birch's lab, near the Hokage building. Tell them I sent you and they might even give you a discount. If you guys do decide to capture pokemon, even if they are different from the ones I recommended, please let me know, I'll share some of the tips that I know."

Kiba sighed and said, "Man, I don't understand how Kurenai expected us to beat someone with as much experience as you. I'd like to think that I'm pretty good, but you blew me out of the water… hehe, literally."

"Actually," I said, "I became an official ninja not long before you guys did, this is my second mission. I've just been put through scenario training for years prior to this."

"What's scenario training?" Shino asked.

"Well, the most powerful Pokemon trainer in Konoha is my father… and he put me through extreme training before we moved here, so I'd have an upper hand against guys like you."

"D-d-do you think we could do it?" asked Hinata.

I took a step back and asked, "Why would you want to? My father crammed years of battle experience into my brain through simulation drills, psychic communication and insane physical training. I almost died like ten times! I still twitch when someone mentions the name for a certain kind of electric mouse pokemon… Do it the natural way with your sensei."

"I think they learned a lot from that battle, Brendan," said Kurenai, suddenly appearing, "thank you… I'll make sure they get to find the pokemon you recommended, on the condition that they when they do, and they've trained them up, my team gets a rematch."

"It's hard to say no to a rematch…" I said shabbily, "But don't go crazy guys, pokemon aren't pets, they aren't ninja-tools either, they are your partners."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Mudkip<br>Ka – Torchic  
>Tsukuyomi – Cascoon<br>Ameterasu – Silcoon

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

At about noon the next day, I met up with Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the current hokage and the sensei of the next set of genin I was supposed to battle with. He was at training area 3, a favorite for teaching genin apparently. He was a bit taller than average with dark hair, dark eyes and taking a drag from a cigarette. Once he saw I was walking over her flicked his cig to the dirt and stomped on it. "So, you must be Brendan. It's nice to meet you," he said, "You look just about how I expected."

"Kurenai expected the exact opposite it seems," I said, "You don't seem to have a problem with me. I thought this was going to be difficult again."

"Nah, I don't care about Mercenaries like she does… I used to be one for a while. I went through a rebellious stage. You'll eventually want to settle down, but kid, until you do, every chance you get to go somewhere new, take it. But that'll happen on its own, today, you're going to fight my squad. I've tried to teach them to pull together, but they don't do it immediately, seeing as how different they think they are from each other. Hit them hard and fast and they'll most likely splinter. Ino is the only girl, and she is from the Yamanaka clan, expect her to try to use her mind transfer technique. She has to stay still to do it, so if you see her standing still and making a hand-sign you are unfamiliar with, take her out. Chouji is the chubby one, don't call him fat, or he'll go on a rampage. Then there's Shikamaru. He's super lazy, but he's a tricky one, but I think that he might very well be smarter than anybody guessed. He uses shadow possession jutsu, it controls all of your body movements except your mouth. But from what I've heard about your style… that might be all you need."

I nodded and said, "Thanks for the info. I'll go all in from the get go then."

I released Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi and instructed them to be highly visible and distract the three genin as soon as Asuma left. I kept Sui and Ka close to me for the main attack. Asuma went and quickly came back with his team. "Alright… so here's the deal," he said, "Today is going to be about teamwork during an ambush…go."

He disappeared in a poof of smoke. "What did he say?" asked Chouji, "I zoned out…"

"Something about an ambush," said Ino, "But I don't see anything. Wait, look over there! Those are the biggest butterflies I've ever seen! Wow!"

Ino stepped forward to go and touch them, and Shikamaru said, "This is gonna be such a pain… Wait, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"What do you know? I'm the boss and I'll do as I like… Besides, how much harm could a Butterfly do?" Ino demanded, as she rolled her eyes.

I smiled to myself and whispered, "Confusion…"

Tsukuyomi looked over to Ino and focused. A burst of colors dominated Ino's eyes and she started to wobble around in confusion. "Ino?" asked Chouji, "Are you alright?"

"Something's not right…" Shikamaru said, his eyes narrowing.

Ino screamed, reached into her ninja pouch, brought out a kunai and started swinging it wildly. I started to sneak around the genin and prepare my next attack. "Ameterasu, tackle!" I shouted.

Shikamaru turned around to face me, just in time to get punched in the face. He fell down like a rock while Ameterasu slammed full force into Chouji's back, knocking him over. "Keep up the confusion, Tsukuyomi!"

Ino continued to wildly swing her kunai, and began to run around, eventually into a tree. That knocked the sense back into her, ironically, and she threw her kunai at me. I dodged and shouted, "Sui! Use Mud Slap! Ka, you use Ember!"

Tsukuyomi soon had Ino back into a befuddled mess and Sui was slapping mud into Chouji's eyes, bewildering him while Ka chased Shikamaru around trying to light him on fire. Ameterasu looked around, picked Chouji and started to hurl herself at him, tripping him up and backing him into a corner. She pushed herself to a new level and learned Absorb, and, not to be outdone, Tsukuyomi learned Poison Powder. "So, I think I'm going to call this team Fat, Dumb and Lazy…" I said to myself.

Then I remembered… that I should not have called Chouji fat. He gained a new focus and shouted, "Human Boulder!"

He jumped into the air and his torso inflated until his head, arms and legs were covered, and then he started rolling, and this was not slow and steady, this was fast and furious. Right towards me. I leapt out of the way and shouted, "Ameterasu! Absorb!"

The absorb attack takes the enemy's chakra and turns into healing energy, so Ameterasu flew behind Chouji, attached her long mouth and drank deeply. Chouji's chakra depleted, and he lost his boulder size. I hadn't been expecting that. I thought he would have to turn it off, not that it would do so automatically. In other words, he was fat because he could turn fat into pure chakra. I ran over to make sure he was still alive, and he had a strong pulse. I turned around and both Sui and Ka were chasing Shikamaru spouting mud and fire in equal measures, but Ino was fighting Tsukuyomi with skill. She kicked him into nearby water, soaking his wings and disabling his ability to fly. I pointed at him and said, "Sui, get Tsukuyomi out of the water NOW!"

As Sui did as I commanded Ino dropped to one knee and made a hand sign I didn't recognize, which meant that it was dodge time. I grabbed Chouji and used him like a human shield. Ino went limp and Chouji livened up. I punted him into the pond and dashed over to Ino, since Chouji couldn't move, Ino would naturally drop the technique, which she did. I grabbed her and threw her near Tsukuyomi and shouted, "Poison Powder!"

Ka was in the process of drying out Tsukuyomi's water logged wings, but the poison powder still came off and Ino breathed it in by accident. Ameterasu looked really worried and was standing nearby, not battling. Sui was pulling Chouji's unconscious body out of the water. I tried to take a step towards them to make sure that everyone would be okay, but I couldn't. "Shadow Possesion Jutsu is a success…" said Shikamaru.

"Damnit…" I cursed and found myself face to face with Shikamaru.

"What's your game?" he asked, "You definitely could have killed us by now… it's like your messing with us."

I watched Ameterasu hover just above Shikamaru's head and I smiled and said, "Who ever said that I wasn't going to kill you? Absorb."

Ameterasu landed on Shikamaru's head and her mouth latched onto his neck and Shikamaru went pale. His jutsu dropped and he lost consciousness. Shikamaru and Chouji were unconscious due to chakra exhaustion, and Ino was suffering from poisoning. That was complete and utter defeat. "Ambush was a success…"

"I'll say…" said a new voice, "You were right Professor, this boy is clearly a genius. Despite his recent acquisition of pokemon, he commands them like a pro. He is a perfect candidate."

A rotund man wearing a button up shirt with pokeball prints, curly brown hair and sunglasses walked out of the nearby forest. Following him was Professor Birch, grinning like usual. I wiped the sweat off my brow and said, "Perfect candidate for what?"

"My name is Scott, an acquaintance of the professor here…" said the rotund man, "and I'm interested in your career as a Pokemon trainer. And while ideally I would like to monitor your progress personally, I have a large project which I simply must oversee. Luckily for the both of us, I have a daughter. If you don't mind, she will accompany you along your many missions and journeys. While she isn't a battler… some might even call her a coward, she knows the elemental nation's geography like the back of her hand, and as a Pokemon Breeder, she possesses the special skill of identifying a pokemon's type by simply looking at it. That kind of information is critical in a fight… Tyra… please greet our new friend here."

Tyra was a bit younger than me, with shoulder length hair which had the distinct sparkle of real gold, not just really blonde, straight up gold. She wore yellow jeans, a white shirt and a distinct pokemon breeding apron which was also yellow. She grabbed a white bandana and used it to tie her hair back. She held out her hand to shake and a smirk danced across her face as she said, "I think this will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship."

I shook her hand and said, "Okay, I guess it can't hurt to have extra intel, but about this… cowardice thing, we're gonna have to work on that. For now, you guys need to scram while these guys are still unconscious. Tyra, meet me here at noon tomorrow. That's when and where my next mission is. Until then, later."

She smirked again and her canine seemed to stick out, giving her an animal appearance. But she took off along with Scott and the Professor. Just as Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji woke up. "Okay…" I said, "So your teamwork needs work. I think you guys could really get a killer combination going if you put your mind to it. But I also think that you guys seemed much better synced than Team Kurenai. My question to you guys then is, do you know what Pokemon are?"

They nodded, rather slowly, as if I was the one who was slow. "Then you all realized that that was what you were fighting against today?"

"I suspected… but I've never really seen one outside of a magazine or textbook," said Ino.

"Okay, so because you guys didn't team up and focus on me, you lost. That'll be what you'll fix next time. Have a strategy on how to fight an enemy to test their abilities that is ready to be triggered at any time. The next part of my mission is to… suggest pokemon that you guys could use to augment your abilities. The reason behind this is that Konoha has recently made a contract with my father, one of the best trainers in the Elemental Nations, and as such, three teams of genin are going to test the water if you will, on Pokemon use. You are obviously one of those teams.

"I'll start with Ino because I have the best grasp on her abilities. The sign you made is like the crosshairs for a crossbow, it's how you aim where you throw your awareness, but the flaw to that is that your target has to stay relatively still. But another way to look at it is if you knew where to throw your awareness ahead of time… you wouldn't have to immobilize your enemy. Certain Psychic types are known for being able to see the future, and read minds. One such is one of the first psychic pokemon discovered, Alakazam. It is the final form of the pokemon Abra, which can be found in some of the surrounding training areas and outside the village. Be careful to get the drop on them and catch them fast, they can teleport away. Next is Shikamaru, I have to ask if there are any limits to your shadow manipulation. What's the downside?"

Shikamaru sighed and said, "I'm not really sure if I should be telling you this kind of stuff. But I guess it's just about public knowledge that I can't make shadows bigger than they already are, so if there isn't much terrain for my shadow to grab onto… then I can't make it move very far."

"I've heard that in the Land of Meteors… in a certain cave, you can find these powerful psychic pokemon made of rock which can manipulate the sun's light to night and day. By catching one of these, you could make shadows bigger through strategic placement of your pokemon. I would advise that you catch that pokemon, Solroc. And Chouji, yours is the hardest one I find myself with. There isn't any way to restore the chakra people could steal from you like I did today, but pokemon who could steal your energy are most likely grass types, so you should catch a fire pokemon. I've heard in the land of fire there are strong fire/ground types that would fit well with your fighting style. I believe they're called Numel. And as to where in the land of Fire… I would guess a volcano…

"To conclude," I said, "I'm sorry that I had to bash into you like I did, but I hope you learn from it, and take my advice to heart, and one day, it will be a pleasure to fight alongside you."

Shikamaru nodded and shook my hand and said, "That was such a pain man, couldn't you have just talked to us? I would have listened."

"I don't think that Asuma sensei was worried about us listening… but I can think of a certain blonde who's a bit… headstrong?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" shouted Ino and I winced. I wasn't sure that they'd learned much at all.

They walked away bickering as they had walked in and I felt the tiredness set back in. Taking three people on by myself was tiring, and I had to do it again tomorrow. I sunk down to a sitting position by the nearby punching posts. I looked up to the sky and admired the clouds for a while, and decided to take a nap.

I was woken up by someone insistently poking my shoulder. Groggily, I mumbled, "What? I'm taking a nap…"

"You're a hard kid to find, and you're a heavy sleeper… sheesh, maybe I won't give you this TM after all," said a familiar voice, Roxanne.

I opened my eyes and asked, "A what?"

"A Technical Machine, you can use them to teach your pokemon moves they wouldn't naturally learn. This one is from me, it's Rock Tomb, and it's got moderate attack power and lowers your opponent's speed. Two birds with one stone. Literally."

She handed me what looked like a microchip. I assumed all I had to do was place it on my pokemon and he/she would learn Rock Tomb. "Thank you," I said, "I'm sure this will come in handy."

"Be careful who you use it on, it'll break after one use," she said, "and with that, I'm going back to train. Good luck on your missions."

I stood up and dusted myself off, I knew just who I wanted to learn this new move, and I wanted to see it in action…

Later that night, I was wandering the streets, looking for something to do besides go home and go to sleep, and I came upon Kakashi Hatake, the leader of Naruto's team. "Hey! Wait up!" I shouted to him.

He turned around and upon seeing me, stopped moving while I ran to catch up to him. "I'm battling your squad tomorrow. Got any tips?"

While his face was completely covered, his amusement was conveyed through what I can only call an eye-smile. "I've heard about you Brendan, but I think my teams going to give you a run for your money. I've been working on their teamwork since Day 1. So expect that, and for them to fight in very different ways. Sakura may not look like it, but she has excellent chakra control, and is deceivingly strong. Sasuke is a genius, and the last of the Uchiha clan. Don't worry about the Sharingan yet, his hasn't awakened, but he's the toughest out of the three. And then there's Naruto. He can make real flesh and blood doppelgangers… Shadow clones, and a lot of them too. You need to come up with an attack with a wide range, because while these clones can hurt you, they can't take much damage. Be there at noon… they will be too, I should be there, but if I'm not… don't stress about it."

"Right, thank you."

He waved goodbye and walked off into the village, and I headed home, I would need my sleep. The next day came and I was fired up, today, I got to fight Naruto. I didn't really know why I wanted to, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Tyra was waiting for my outside my house and we ran over to the training area to plan. We reached our destination in no time at all. Lyra coughed and said, "So, uh, look, about yesterday… my father called me a coward… but I don't think your definition of coward is the same as his. I train a Plusle and Minun, and as you know, they are very cute pokemon. I spend time making them extra cute, so much so, that people are disarmed by how cute they are, and then I strike."

"That seems like a strategy to me, I wouldn't do it," I said, "But I guess our styles are different. I thought he meant you ran away from fights."

"No!" she snapped, "I don't, I just don't fight as straight forward as you. That's all."

"I don't have any problems with that."

"Really? Thanks."

"So, I'll introduce you to my team, and then you introduce me to yours."

She nodded so I pulled out my pokescrolls and released my entire party. I introduced Sui, Ka, Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi and she greeted them individually. She complimented Sui for the light in his eyes, Ka for the sharpness of her talons, Ameterasu's beautiful wings and Tsukuyomi's calming aura. I recalled them all and Lyra nodded and said, "Okay… So here is my party!"

She released Plusle and Minun, but there was something different about their coloring. They weren't the usual yellow, but golden, and constantly sparkling like Lyra's hair. And their secondary colors were different too, Plusle was gold and crimson instead of yellow and red and Minun was gold and teal instead of yellow and blue. Seeing the look of curiosity in my eyes, Lyra said, "They're shiny Pokemon. About one in every million pokemon are shiny. They don't have any special abilities or anything, but they are… captivating."

"I'll say…" I murmured, then I felt the cold edge of a kunai pressing against my forehead and I nearly face-palmed, "That works like a charm!" I declared.

"Yeah…" she said, "I'm full of good ideas, take for example, these new ninja tools I've developed."

She handed me three items that looked like old fashioned pokeballs. "I know, they're pretty rare nowadays, but you can still find them if you are determined enough. Anyway, I rigged them to shoot out electrified nets, think like a taizer which also restrains a target. I'll let you keep these three, they're reloadable, and can be used up to three times each before they need a recharge. In order to call back the net, just press the button. It's the only button."

"Thanks, I'm eager to try them out, and coincidentally, I have three test subjects incoming shortly. I'm sure that you didn't plan that," I said with a wink and Lyra smirked in her trademark way.

"Alright," she said, "I'm not getting paid to fight, so I'm not gonna. But I'll watch."

I nodded, I understood completely. Why even risk an injury without pay? So I released my team and said, "Okay, Sui, when the three genin arrive, I want you to prepare yourself for lightning quick action, use Rock Tomb on the girl, (she has pink hair) when I set off a flare. If they guy in orange suddenly multiplies, use Water Gun to take them out one by one, they can't take much damage. Hide in the water… or mud, whatever you're more comfortable with. Ka, you follow me, and when I attack, fire out at the guy in blue, except if the guy in orange multiplies, and then help Sui figure out which one is the original. Ameterasu, Tsukuyomi, wait for Sui to attack and hide. When Sui attacks use Gust together to attack the guy in blue. Okay?"

My team nodded as one and reached their assigned position. I leapt quickly around the clearing setting up kunai traps and the like. Then I reached a position in the trees where I could see everyone entering and exiting the training area. Eventually the three genin showed up without their sensei. It was a good thing that Kakashi had warned me that he wouldn't be on time. I waited for ten minutes for them to let their guards down, and Naruto and Sakura did, but Sasuke didn't. "Something doesn't feel right…" he said, "I feel like we're being watched."

Naruto waved him off and continued to chatter on about something and Sakura did her best to ignore him. My flare was set to go off from 50 yards away from me, concealing my current location, and if Sasuke was as good as Kakashi said he was… then he would throw a kunai or shuriken right where the flare was launched… triggering a kunai trap. Sauske took off his pack to check something, and a better moment wouldn't come, so I triggered the flare. The Flare shot off into the air, and Sasuke, true to form, pulled out a demon windmill shuriken and threw it right into the kunai trap. Twenty kunai flew out of the trees directly at him. He rolled to the side, dodging almost all of them, but one stuck into his pack and three grazed him, one on the arm and two on his left leg.

He dropped to one knee and stifled a cry. Mizu struck at that moment, by jumping out of the water, and high above Sakura's head, and using its incredible strength, dropped five large stones around her, restricting her movement and two bounced into her directly, inflicting what would become two very large bruises and a broken arm. She screamed and dropped to her knees. "I don't know what's going on, but whoever you are, you're gonna pay! Believe it!" bellowed Naruto as he formed at least fifty shadow clones.

Ka and Sui sprang into action, Water bullets and flashes of Fire decimating the clone population. Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi attacked Sasuke and realization dawned in his eyes, "These are pokemon! And they're coordinated… there's a trainer nearby, probably in the trees!"

"On it!" shouted the Narutos.

Sasuke flashed through several hand signs and shouted, "FIRE STYLE: GRAND FIREBALL!"

Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi took the full brunt of the attack. They fell to the ground, blackened and bearing 'X's for eyes. I recalled them and jumped out into the open. "You'll pay for that!" I shouted.

Sasuke tried to back up to get some distance, no doubt to try his fireball technique again, but with my running shoes I closed the distance and threw a punch. Sasuke deflected the punch so I kicked, this one landed on his wounded leg and he cried out. "You are not going to hit my beloved Sasuke! Cha!" shouted someone behind me.

I barely dodged Sakura as she barreled by me to punch a tree, causing the bark to splinter. But I didn't dodge the kick that followed and I felt my own ribs crack under the blow. I grabbed one of Tyra's rigged pokeballs and pegged Sakura with it. The ball opened and a net shot out at her, the distinctive sound that a taizer has as electricity runs through a person's body filled the air and Sakura went limp. I got some distance from Sasuke who was back on his feet and in a defensive stance. "Brendan?" asked Naruto, "What's going on? Why are you attacking us?"

I turned and shouted, "I take missions too Naruto! Sui, Mud Slap and then bring him into your pond!"

Ka dashed over to my side. I pointed at Sasuke and shouted, "Ember! And then get in close and use Scratch!"

Sui slapped mud right into Naruto's eyes and then full body tackled him into the water, and dragged him down to the bottom. Ka shot fire out at Sasuke and he rolled to the side to dodge again, but this time onto his good leg. So when Ka got in close to scratch him, he kicked her back to me. I caught her, but her eyes were flashing red again, as her Flare ability activated. Then she did something unexpected, she jumped out of my arms, breathed in deeply and shot out her own incarnation of Sasuke's Grand Fireball. It made sense when I thought about it, because ninjutsu was based on copying Pokemon moves, a pokemon should be able to copy ninjutsu. Sasuke stared on in incomprehension as the fireball raced towards him, but an orange blur knocked him out of the way.

They rolled around on the ground and the orange blur poofed out of existence. That meant shadow clones, which meant that I was in serious trouble. I turned around to see twenty Narutos shoot out of the water and surround me, one of them holding Sui so he couldn't move. There was no hesitation on my part. I grabbed this Naruto's throat and squeezed, he poofed away and Sui landed on his feet and began to take care of the shadow clones with Water Bullets. Only one Naruto could take the water bullet so I grabbed him and threw him into Sasuke. Sasuke caught him, set him down and dashed to the left, but tripped as he tried to juke out Ka, who was right on his tail, shooting fireballs indiscriminately about. "Brendan! Let's talk this out! You can't betray the village! You're… I thought you were my friend."

I felt bad for keeping up the charade for as long as I had, but I needed their best, so I threw another rigged pokeball at Naruto, knocking him unconscious. Sasuke panted as he faced me and said, "So, you're the mercenary he's been talking about… bought off, I suppose?"

Ka and Sui stood by my side and I threw two kunai attached to ninja wire to Sasuke's left and right side, and around a tree. I caught the kunai as they came around and I tightened the wire, so Sasuke was trapped against the tree. "I was bought by your own Hokage… as a training match, but we'll discuss the details later."

I threw the last rigged pokeball at Sasuke's incredulous face and he got zapped good. I collapsed to one knee and panted, it hurt too much to just breathe. Tyra jumped down from out of the trees and shouted, "Oh shit! They gave you a run for your money! I'll go get a medic, you… you stay conscious."

I barely nodded through the sea of pain that was breathing in and out. Soon a team of Medical Ninjas and Kakashi Hatake arrived. He jumped over to me and I immediately said, "I'm sorry, this is my fault… I let this get out of hand. I didn't mean for this to happen."

He patted me on my shoulder very lightly and said, "I expected it. And I understand, besides, they know a bit of what it's like to fight a real enemy now. It'll be a bit of a rough patch to heal all four of you… but they'll be better for it, as will you… I assume, in a real fight, you'll use those ball things first, and ask questions later."

I nodded and breathed a bit too deeply, and everything went black.

I woke up later that day in the hospital surrounded by my team, all healed by their pokescrolls, Tyra, my parents, and the hokage. "I'm sorry for making you guys worry. Squad Seven was quite the handful," I said.

My father nodded and said, "You took on quite the load the past three days, it is to be expected that you show some wear and tear. I'm giving you the rest of the week off to recuperate. And I think I speak for both your mother and I when I say that we're proud of how you're taking an important role in the village. Rest up, and come back even stronger."

My mother nodded and they both left, not worried, after all, they knew that I'd been through worse than broken ribs and recovered in a single day, a week was quite the reward indeed. Next the hokage coughed and said, "Excellent job with the sparring matches, after this, I'll let you change and go into Squad 7's room so you can finish your mission. The Devon Corporation has asked us to assign you another mission, so when your week's vacation is over, you will report to them at 8 am. Understood?"

I nodded and he left the room. Tyra sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I think that if your pokemon had been just bit stronger… you'd have taken them down easy. After this Devon mission, let's hit the training grounds hard. I'll leave you to get changed and all that."

I nodded and she headed out. I got out of the bed and changed into my clothes, carefully not disturbing the bandages. Then I was shown to Team 7's recovery room. They all looked exhausted like I felt, so I breathed in, sucked up the pain and strolled into their room like I had whooped their asses. "So… what do you guys know?" I asked.

"You were hired by the hokage to introduce us to the practice of fighting with both ninjutsu and pokemon," said Sakura, as if reading it from a text book.

"That was a mean trick Brendan… I thought… I thought you'd turned like Mizuki," said Naruto, looking downcast.

I patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm sorry I tricked you but I needed the best you had… and I think I got that… didn't I?"

He nodded and I smiled at him, and my smile proving infectious, he started smiling moments later. "So, now I've been assigned to recommend pokemon for you guys to capture and raise to complement your abilities. Sakura… yours is easy. The Pokemon Machop would provide a good sparing and teaching partner for you to develop your taijutsu and physical capabilities. You seem to have good chakra control, and your taijutsu would be a great weapon for you if applied correctly, you broke some of my ribs today, ha ha. You can find them training in caves or other harsh areas, they adore training themselves."

"Sasuke Uchiha… you remind me of Bagon, the Dragon Pokemon, because you are already so formidable. But also like Bagon, you are also nowhere near the peak of you potential. I hear you can find those in the Land of Meteors in certain caves."

"That brings me to you, Naruto…" I said, sitting down next to him to speak so only he could hear, "I'm going to recommend a pokemon I've been thinking about for a long time… Vulpix. It's a Fire Fox spirit pokemon, and it evolves into Ninetails, called the children of the Kyuubi no Yoko. I think that maybe if you could understand the creature most closely associated with your monster… maybe you could understand your monster. You can find them in areas of spiritual significance and near Volcanos."

Naruto's smile died for a look of seriousness and he said, "Thanks… that makes some sense I guess."

"I know it does," I gloated, "I said it." 

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Mudkip<br>Ka – Torchic  
>Tsukuyomi – Cascoon<br>Ameterasu – Silcoon

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<p>

COMPANIONS:  
>Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

My week off passed faster than I would have liked, but I was excited, because I was doing something outside of the village, something real. I finished packing my various ninja tools, six brand new pokescrolls, with upgraded catching strength, now called Pokescrolls G, and went downstairs. I was going to head out the door, but then my mom shouted, "Wait!"

I stopped, turned and looked, my mom was waiting with my dad in the dining room. She handed me a breakfast packed so I could eat as I walked to the Devon Corporation and my father said, "This will be your first real mission outside of the village. I told you this day would come, when you were finally worthy of the family blades."

Just mentioning those took me back. I had been training to use our family's style of Kenjutsu for years, but I didn't actually own swords suited for our style. My father was the first ninja to train pokemon in my family, but he wasn't the first ninja, that was my mother. She was a member of the Fu-ma clan, a descendent of the mythical Taki, and as such, the current master of Taki's style of swordplay. While my father taught me about pokemon, my mother used her machokes to teach me taijutsu, and when I got tired out, she brought out the practice swords. Oak sticks weighted to be ten times heavier than the genuine article, and she taught me the forms of the legendary kunoichi Taki.

My father tapped my mother's shoulder and she sighed and brought out a wooden chest. She opened it with a flourish and there sat two sheathed swords, known as the Ruby and the Sapphire. They were called this because they were formed from two unusual metals found within sacred Ruby and Sapphire mines and the largest jewels ever found in those mines were in the hilts of the handles. Worth their weight in pure diamond to jewelers, they were impressive. But to ninja, they were priceless, because they could cut through iron like butter, and warp steel without chipping or becoming the least bit damaged. According to my mother, they hadn't needed to be sharpened since they were made, and they never would be. With shaking hands I reached out for them, and then I realized something, my bag had two spots made to attach to the sheathes of these two swords. I did so and smiled, my bag covered the hilts of the blades and the jewels on them, but not the handles of the blades themselves.

"These swords are special for more than just the materials that make them… they have a magic about them, my son," my mother said, "just by being equipped, people will hear their voice, a whisper, a whisper to avoid a fight. If you touch their hilts… they can hear their voices loud and clear, like a rattlesnake's rattle, to avoid you. And when you draw them, then the blades scream… and it is already too late for the opposition. Use this to your advantage."

"I will," I said with a nod, and left my house to my first big-time mission.

The less than imposing figure of Ikki was waiting for me just outside the gates of the incredible Devon HQ building, which stood seven stories above ground. I waved and he jogged over to shake my hand and say, "It'll be a pleasure working with you again, Mr. Brendan."

"The pleasure is all mine," I said, I had an exclusive client and I defined newbie, you already know I was stroking up my ego something fierce. Ikki guided me all the way up to the highest floor of the building and I found myself once again face to face with President Stone of the Devon Corporation. He shook my hand and said, "Ah, Brendan, we heard you had a rough couple of days recently, no permanent injuries?

I shook my head and said, "I'm ready and raring to go! What is the mission you have for me?"

He smiled and reached into his coat pocket and grabbed a key and a letter, he set the letter down on the table and unlocked a secret compartment on his desk. Hidden in said compartment was a briefcase made of steel. He placed that too on the desk and said, "I would like you to deliver this letter to my son, Steven Stone, in The Land of Waves and then deliver this case to Captain Stern who recently relocated his boating operations also to the Land of Waves. Be careful, the area is experiencing some intense violence, the Yakuza of that area control nearly every aspect of life there. If you see them, get out of the way."

"I'll make sure to do that," I said, "but if you don't mind me asking, why did Stern move to the Land of Waves if it's infested with Yakuza?"

"It's geographically an ideal location for his line of business. He is a man of means; maybe he'll put you to use scaring the Yakuza away from his business. Speaking of means… your payment will come in two chunks, one now… and one after the job is over. As you are new to the business and the area, we figured we'd be so bold as to pay you in technology now… This is a Pokemon Navigator, but we call it a Pokenav. It has a comprehensive map of the entire Elemental Nations. You see… we have certain pokemon constantly flying all over the place taking pictures which we use to update the map. However, some ninja are extremely protective, so don't get surprised if you find a couple blank areas here or there near ninja villages. We even took the liberty of marking the Land of Waves on the map for you. Would you prefer this or straight up cash?"

"The Pokenav sounds like quite the steal to be honest," I said, "I could now the terrain of an area without actually visiting an area."

The president handed me the Pokenav, which I stuck in my back pocket, then sealed the suitcase in a compact and hide-able scroll and handed me the letter, which I put into one of my bag's pockets. "Alright, thanks," I said, "And now I'll be off."

Tyra was waiting for my outside, in full running shoes and ninja gear. I noticed that she had cooking gear too. "I should have thought of that," I said with a frown, "Should I go pick up additional food for myself?"

"I thought you might forget, so I packed enough for you too," she said with her irritating smirk.

I gritted my teeth to hold back a biting retort to her smirk and said, "thank you…"

"Well then, got everything we need?" she asked, "Let's get going!"

I nodded and we took off to the main gate of the village. Once we were outside I stopped and pulled out my shiny new Pokenav and pressed the big blue button, causing the device to open and the display screen to become visible. It had charted the fastest available route to the Land of Waves capital. Tyra looked over my shoulder and asked, "What's that?"

"It's the Pokenav, from the Devon Corporation," I bragged, "It's how we're gonna get to where we're going."

"How'd you get one, those are going to be available to the public in a year minimum!" she shouted.

"We're taking this mission for the Devon Corporation…" I said, "So this is half of our payment. But what's really important is that we need to head East… the Land of Waves is directly east of here."

I activated my running shoes and took off, Tyra not far behind. We made great time, and that night, we found ourselves over half way to our destination. We stopped in a town called Tanzaku town. We got two rooms in an inn near the bustling casinos to which Tyra immediately retired. I decided to look around town for a while. Eventually I got hungry and went into a dango shop to grab some munchies and I saw someone familiar, it was Wally. I smiled and moved through the shop after him, but he entered through a door on the opposite side of the shop and closed it behind him. I maneuvered through the crowd and got to the door. I wanted to say hello, but I didn't want to interrupt something important, so I decided to listen in.

"But Shizune!" Wally cried, "She could heal me! You know that and I know that! What's the harm in asking?"

"She hasn't done anything like that for a long time. Didn't it occur to you that there was a reason?"

"I'm sure there must be, but that's why I came to you first. You and my mom were so close, you wouldn't be asking for a stranger, you'd be asking for family!"

Wally started coughing horribly and I winced, he hadn't gotten better. But then who was this lady who could help him?

I heard the woman Wally was talking to sigh then she said, "Very well… I'll try to convince her to heal you. But Lady Tsunade isn't known for her ability to change her mind. I sincerely hope you get healed, but don't get your hopes up."

I heard them moving around, so I bailed. I could talk to Wally later. As I turned to flee the restaurant, I ran right into two gigantic boobs. I looked up and a blonde woman with a purple diamond tattoo was fuming. I jumped back and exclaimed, "Oh my god, I am so sorry!"

But steam was coming out of her ears, so I turned, flipped on my running shoes and ran over several bar patrons on my way out. I didn't stop running until I was safe back at my hotel room. The next day Tyra and I set out to finish our trip to the Land of Waves so we could begin our real mission in earnest.

We sped down the main street of the village and suddenly we heard a crash and the tinkle of broken glass. I turned around and a Grunt from Team Aqua was running down the street at full speed, a Wingull in his arms, fleeing from… May? I flipped on my running shoes and chased after the Grunt. He was agile and clearly knew the terrain, but I was a ninja, and could keep up. He was running fast, so I sped up and gradually gained ground on him. I released Ameterasu and said, "I'm going to tackle him to the ground, when I do, let me get away, then use sleep powder!"

I put on another burst of speed and lowered my shoulder, knocking the wind out of the grunt and I leapt back into the forest canopy. Green dust filtered through the trees and onto the grunt, who gasped in air, and was knocked out by the dust. May caught up seconds later and pryed the Wingull out of the thug's arm and said, "I had the situation handled Brendan…"

She was upset? I said, "Um, I'm sorry, I was just trying to help."

"This was my mission, and now I'm not sure who gets paid, me or you… thanks."

"It's quite alright young lady, I'll pay you just as agreed," a burly old man with a shiny bald head and a long white beard said.

"Thank you, Mr. Briney," said May.

"Why don't we all go back to town and have some food, on me?"

Tyra caught up next and said, "Oh, crap! Did I miss the battle?"

"There wasn't a battle, was there, Ameterasu?" I asked.

Ameterasu silently flittered about in affirmative. I recalled her and we all went back to the Tanzaku town. Mr. Briney treated us all to ramen and I told them the general premise of my mission. "Hm… A letter to Steven and a package to Captain Stern… you know… the bridge to the Land of Waves is still under construction, so you can't walk there. I could give you a ride on my boat though, if it suits your fancy."

"That'd be great!" I exclaimed.

He nodded and said, "Alright then, I'll leave you guys to your devices. Meet me at the port town called Misty Cove, and I'll get you to the Land of Waves without issue."

He paid the bill, and left, just like that. So May, Tyra and I finished our food, and went outside and into the main square of the town. Then May said, "Look, I'm sorry about before, when I snapped at you, I've just been a bit stressed out… the Hokage sent me on these missions to fight genin and then teach them about pokemon, and they were really good. I beat them all, but just barely."

"Me too… man, three on one is not fun."

"What? Are you making fun of me? It was three one on one battles!"

Tyra chimed in, "Nah, Brendan here took on three squads of genin, Team Kurenai, Team Asuma and Team Kakashi."

"Oh, wow, how are you so chipper after losing like that?" May asked.

"I didn't lose…" I said carefully, "I barely beat them…"

May stopped moving and asked, "How could you already be that strong?"

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. Instead, May spoke again, "How about a battle, you and two of your pokemon versus me and two of my pokemon?"

"Here?" I asked, "There are people everywhere."

May nodded and then shouted, "Clear out if you don't wanna get caught up in a fight!"

People turned and stared, but when May brought out two pokescrolls, people scattered. I jumped back and said, "I'm all for having a good match, don't get me wrong, but do we really have to duke it out here?"

"Let's go, Brimstone and Koa!" May shouted as she released a Torkoal and Treecko.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it," I said, "Let's go, Sui and Ka!"

"Mud slap and then Water Gun on Torkoal! Use ember at Treecko!" I cried.

"Brimstone, dig to evade and then attack Torchic, Koa, Absorb on Mudkip!" shouted May.

"Fill the hole with water, Sui!" I shouted and I reached for my blades.

May grabbed a stick out of her bag and she made the hand sign for Tiger and shouted, "Release!"

Her stick extended almost magically into a full on metal battle staff. I ran up to close distance, rolled to her left, drew my blade and slashed at her. She parried the slash and went for my head, but I blocked with my second sword. She jumped back and crouched into a defensive stance. I put away both my swords and they made the distinctive chime letting me know that they were fully sheathed. Takis' style was all about the draw of the twin swords. Sui was filling torkoal's holes with water just a bit slower than he could dig them, but Sui was also dodging Torkoal's attacks, leaving an odd, moving stalemate. Ka was shooting embers at Treecko, trying to back him into a corner, but Treecko was latching onto nearby buildings and evading, Ka was getting pissed.

"Change tactics, Sui, use Water Gun at Torkoal when it attacks Ka, Ka, finish Treecko, Grand Fireball!" I shouted.

"Don't you dare forget about me!" May shouted as she swung her staff at me.

I ducked under and slashed at her Quad muscle. I scored a hit as my blade came away red. She grunted and I rolled away from her staff. She grimaced and pointed the staff at me, I was clearly out of range, but then her staff extended more, knocking the wind out of me. I jumped up and into May's view of the sun, and put chakra into my primary blade, making the blade longer and sharper yet. I drew it and slashed down, landing another hit on May, this time her right shoulder. She fell to one knee so I kicked her staff away, kicked her to the ground and held my sword to her neck. I looked up at the pokemon battle. Ka chirped, puffed out its chest and shot out a gigantic fireball at the Treecko, who dodged once again. Ka started jumping up and down in indignation and started glowing. She evolved into Combusken. She then breathed in deeply again and sent out a larger Grand Fireball, and Treecko watched in abject horror as the bigger fireball raced at a much faster pace towards him. He collapsed, unconscious and blackened, with swirls for eyes. Then I looked over at Sui. Torkoal shot out of the ground at him, and Sui timed the water gun attack just a bit off, and was tackled into a nearby building. Sui's eyes glowed blue, as his torrent ability activated. Then he started glowing, as he too, evolved into Marshstomp. Sui picked up torkoal with his new strength and threw him into the air, and shot a barrage of Water Gun attacks directly at him. I had once again, won the battle. I recalled my pokemon and removed the sword from May's neck and demanded, "Happy now? You got your battle! You took this too far, I hadn't even agreed to the practice match! You may have been training pokemon for longer than I have, but that doesn't make you always right! Urgh, I'm sick of looking at you, we could have hurt someone!"

I stood up off her and sheathed my weapons. I looked over to Tyra and said, "Let's get out of here… I'm done."

I stormed off in a random direction away from May, luckily it was to the east, and I didn't have to backtrack and look like an idiot. Tyra caught up to me and said, "I don't know what has gotten into her, but you were right to be mad. Let's get to Misty Cove… let my see your pokenav."

I handed her the gadget and she tinkered with it for a minute and then said, "Okay, there's a road leading us directly there. Why don't we walk for a while, give you some time to cool down. There isn't a deadline to this job, so let's take a bit of time."

Silently I agreed and we continued along the road. Eventually the flowing plains turned back into forest and strangely… misty. "I guess we know why they call it Misty Cove…" I said.

Tyra nodded but didn't say anything, and we kept walking. Eventually we came upon the cove. It was small, just enough room for a pier with a cabin on it and for a boat to maneuver in and out of the cove. We leapt down to the pier and went inside the cabin. Mr. Briney was drinking from a gourd and lazing around while Peeko was flitting about near the rafters. Once both myself and Tyra were inside, Mr. Briney smiled and said, "Well then, are you younglings ready to go?"

I nodded so he belched, stood up, corked his gourd and lead us outside to his boat. It wasn't the biggest boat I'd ever seen, but it was motorized and had a cabin of its own, no doubt for long voyages. I stood near the bow of the boat and Tyra stood up on the tallest point, acting like some sailor in a crow's nest. Briney took his spot by the wheel and turned the motor on. We steadily sped up out of the cove, but once we were clear of it, Mr. Briney put all the power his motor had to use. Soon after that, he started singing some old sailing tune. For about an hour I was silent, Tyra hummed and Mr. Briney sung, but eventually Mr. Briney stopped and said, "This mist. It isn't natural. I have friends in the Land of Waves I'll stay with, his name is Tazuna, when you're done with your mission, let me know, and I'll give you a ride back to the mainland. We're approaching shore near the cave Steven usually hangs out in. Be careful, and constantly vigilant… my bones ache, and I smell blood."

I sniffed, and it filled my nostrils as well. Tyra jumped down to the deck and stood beside me. Mr. Briney slowed the boat down and once the motor had calmed down, we found ourselves at the shoreline of the Land of Wave's main island. I heard the clash of weapons and I instinctively grabbed for my own blades. Nothing moved, but the sounds continued, off in the distance. "We need to move," I said, "and figure out who's fighting who."

Tyra nodded and said, "Okay, while you were brooding off to the side, I asked Mr. Briney about where Steven likes to wander, and it's in a place called Granite Cave, off to the north, by a lake, it sounds like that is where the fighting is. Let's not throw ourselves into a fight we may not have to, okay?"

I nodded, but said, "I was not brooding, I zoned out."

"Whatever, same difference…"

Tyra jumped off and I followed behind. Soon we reached an area with a lake, a cave and a clearing. But what really surprised me was what was in the clearing… Team Kakashi and a tall man who looked like a cross between murderous and gleeful with a laughably large sword. Kakashi was trapped in what looked like a ball of water, while Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura surrounded an old man, in a defensive formation. "That headband…" Tyra whispered, "On the scary man… it's… from the Village hidden in the Mist. And that Sword… it's special."

Naruto created a ton of shadow clones and launched them all at the Mist ninja. But the Mist ninja wasn't having it, and repelled them effortlessly. Naruto shouted and threw Sasuke something. Sasuke stood up and flicked his wrist, unfolding what Naruto had thrown him. "Demon Wind Shuriken!" he shouted, and threw his weapon at the Mist ninja. But the enemy ninja caught it, revealing another shuriken. Tyra rubbed her eyes and said, "Wait, there were two?"

"That's Shadow Shuriken Jutsu… brilliant," I said.

But the Mist ninja dodged the second shuriken by jumping, still keeping Kakashi trapped. "Not Good enough!" shouted the Mist ninja.

Then the shuriken poofed, revealing Naruto, with a kunai, which he threw at the enemy ninja's hand, forcing him to remove his hand, freeing Kakashi. They separated and started yelling at each other. I looked to Tyra and said, "Team Kakashi has injuries which must be attended to, use my med kit to do what you can, Sui and I are going to get involved in a big way."

She nodded, grabbed my med kit from my pack and dashed off to help. I jumped over to the shoreline and released Sui. Sasuke and Naruto gaped at me and I said, "I was on a mission of my own, but I can't just ignore a friend in need. We're gonna help. Isn't that right, Sui?"

Sui nodded and Naruto said, "No! Kakashi sensei said to back off while he fought Zabuza… that guy's a jonin!"

"Zabuza?" I asked and pulled out my Mercenary Bingo Book. He was a missing nin from the village hidden in the Mist, wanted for a failed coup-d'état, famous for his silent killing ability as well as his membership in the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. I stood absolutely no chance in this fight, but I could do back up attacks like nobody's business. "Kakashi-sensei!" I shouted, "I'll give you support ninjutsu if you can just get me an opening!"

He shook his head and shouted, "Stay out of the way, help my students!"

I thought about it, it would be easy to just back down and not get in the way. But that wasn't what I was going to do. Zabuza started moving his hands and muttering preparing a jutsu, and Kakashi did the same, mimicking him to Zabuza's accent. How was he doing that? The water on the lake started to surge, and out of it shot two dragon's heads. I remembered Ka copying Sasuke's fireballs so I looked to Sui and asked, "Can you copy that?"

Sui nodded and he started to make the water around him surge as well. Zabuza's and kakashi's dragons wrapped around each other and canceled each other out, and that was when Sui struck. The Water Dragon struck at Zabuza, knocking him off his feet. Zabuza looked over at me and demanded, "When did this brat get here? And that pokemon… Marshstomp. A mercenary…"

Kakashi shouted, "Water Explosion Jutsu!"

He shot an entire lake's worth of water right at Zabuza and I watched as Kakashi threw a couple shuriken into the vortex. I didn't know what he hoped to accomplish be that last part though. When the water died down, Zabuza was pinned to a nearby tree by Kakashi's kunai. He had accounted for the randomness of the Vortex and still hit his mark… that was jonin level skill? I had a long way before I could even ponder attempting such a feat. Zabuza gaped and asked, "How? I was going to use that jutsu… can you see the future?"

"Yeah," Kakashi replied, "You're dead!"

Two senbon needles flew out of nowhere and buried themselves in Zabuza's neck. "You were right," came a high voice, "He's dead."

Suddenly, right next to me was a ninja with a peculiar mask. "A hunter-nin?" asked Kakashi.

The ninja nodded his head and said, "Indeed, I've been looking for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time now. Thank you for the opportunity, I'll see that his body is disposed of…"

The hunter-nin walked up to Zabuza's body, and in a swirl of leaves, they were gone. Naruto shouted, "Hey! What the hell's going on? Who was that… that kid? And Zabuza… dead just like that?"

"He snuck up on me without me even noticing," I whispered, "he could have killed me just as easy as Zabuza."

"That's life sometimes," Kakashi said, as he patted me on the back, "Every now and again, you're gonna meet a genius, one who is younger than you, but stronger than me."

Then he fell over, his limbs going completely limp. I freaked out, "Ohmygod! Are you okay?"

"I used the sharingan too much…" he whispered, "It looks like I'm not going to be moving much for the next week."

"Naruto, Sasuke, get him up and moving to your friend's house, or any nearby house for that matter…" I said, "I have some things to deliver, but I'll check in on you after I deliver the first thing. Okay?"

Sasuke nodded and with Naruto's help, picked Kakashi up and helped him move off towards the nearest town or living area. I turned to the cave and asked Tyra, "Is this Granite Cave?"

She nodded so I walked in to find Steven. The first chamber of the cavern the light was great, but once I'd gotten to the second main cavern, there was almost no light to see by. Tyra was close behind, and said "My Pokemon can make pom-poms out of electricity, it should light the way…"

She released her Plusle and Minun and they immediately formed their pom-poms and scampered around us, spreading the light, but also making me dizzy. "Calm down guys!" Tyra shouted, and they slowed down, and I started walking forward. As we descended into the cave, we started bumping into wild pokemon. The most common species was Zubat, but there were also Geodudes, Makuhitas, Arons and even one or two Sableyes. The cave had a singular path that wound down into the earth for quite some time, and eventually, semiprecious stones were visibly sticking out of the rocks around us. At the lowest point of the caves, there were two emeralds of impressive size, matching the ruby and sapphire on my blades. Something called me to them. I reached out and touched them and they lit up. I jumped away from them and looked at them. They were gathering energy, and unleashed it right at me. I fell over and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, two shadows were above me, one was Tyra and the other was a man in a black suit and a crimson tie with silver hair. "What happened?" I asked.

"You… tampered with some very powerful and important gems. Even gems of power don't react to just anyone like that. So, who are you?" asked the man.

"My name is Brendan. Who… who're you?" I asked.

"Stone, Steven Stone," he replied.

Did normal people get this lucky? "Great, I don't have to keep looking for you," I replied and handed him the letter from his father, "I've never heard of gems of power… what do they do?"

"You weren't surprised by their size?"

"Uh… I guess they were large."

"To a jewler, those stones would be priceless. Have you ever seen gems that large?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"Those swords on your back, they once belonged to a dear friend of mine, Caroline Fu-ma… you have her eyes, would I be guessing right that you are her son?"

"You would be…"

"Then you already bear two gems of power on your back right there. You know, once a long time ago, the gems on your blades were found on a place called Mt. Pyre. It is said that those gems are related to land and sea…"

"I've heard the stories about the Red Orb and Blue Orb, but they're just stories."

"Most people think so… but I know you don't. Not with your pedigree."

He was making me nervous, I stood up and backed away a bit, my hand inched near the hilt of my swords. "I will not let you just take them," I vowed.

He laughed and said, "I don't want them. These Emeralds are what I'm after. I like you though, I think that if you put your mind to it, you could even become the best in the business. I'll be very eager to watch and maybe aid your progress. As a thank you for delivering the letter, I'd like you to have this pokemon… it's my favorite one."

He handed me a pokescroll that didn't even have a nick-name on it, and said, "It's all yours, a very special Beldum. But let's go outside next, I know a short cut."

He walked over to the nearest wall and punched it. I waited a second, and then two and the wall slid away to reveal a small space. Steven swept his arms toward the space in a specific 'after-you' gesture, so I walked up and into the space. Under my feet was a steel plate, which rose up and up. I looked up and saw daylight, but this was not gradual ascent, in seconds I was going at least thirty miles an hour. Finally the tunnel ended and I was shot out into the air and fell into the sea nearby. I will admit that my fall was… less than graceful. Tyra even less so, so that made me feel better. Tyra and I watched as Steven himself was launched, but while in mid-air, he released a Skarmory, which he held onto, and flew off into the distance. "If I had a flying pokemon big enough, and warning I could have done that…" I muttered and Tyra visibly rolled her eyes.

We swam to shore and I released my newest pokemon. Most beldum are blue with a red eye, but this one wasn't. For starters, instead of the usual white poof of smoke, there was a shower of silvery sparks, which eventually settled down to reveal a Beldum with Silver coloring. It looked around and then focused on me, so I said, "My own Shiny Pokemon… you're name is Koutetsu."

Recognition flashed in its eye and I recalled it to its scroll. I smiled to myself and looked over to Tyra, "It's time to catch up with Team Kakashi. Once we help them with their mission, we'll finish our own."

Tyra nodded and we went into town to find out friends.

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Marshstomp<br>Ka – Combusken  
>Tsukuyomi – Dustox<br>Ameterasu – Beautifly  
>Kotetsu – Beldum<p>

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<p>

COMPANIONS:  
>Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun.<br>Temporarily: Team Kakashi 


	5. Chapter 5

Tyra and I arrived at Tazuna's house to regroup with Team Kakashi, and when we entered, Naruto and Sakura simultaneously said, "No way…"

"What happened?" I asked.

"That Hunter-nin…" Kakashi said, "He didn't dispose of Zabuza's corpse on the spot, that's against regulation. And with the kind of needles he used, it's likely that he didn't kill Zabuza, but put him into a near-death state. Zabuza will be back up and at it in as little as a few weeks."

"The hunter-nin was on Zabuza's side, huh?" I asked, "That kid was good, better than anybody I've ever seen, he snuck up on me. I don't know how he did it…"

"Well then maybe we need to work on your senses…" said a new voice. In the corner of the hut was a man with a wild mane of blue, spiky hair, wearing loose workout shorts and a bright orange T-shirt. "My name is Brawly, I'm the gym leader around here. This Land doesn't have ninja to protect it, it has me. I've had enough of Gato and his henchmen, and when I heard that Norman's son was coming over the water… well, I'd be a fool not to use the extra force, I will compensate you of course…"

"I have another mission that comes first. Do you know where a man named Captain Stern lives?" I asked.

"He'll be returning to the Land of Waves in about two weeks, to deliver more building material for the bridge. While you're waiting, you could at least take the job I'm offering."

It seemed like a lot on my plate, what if Stern returned on the same day that Zabuza and Gato attacked… I'd need to be in two places at once, and I didn't know how to make shadow clones. But it was a good cause, and money was money. I nodded and said, "Okay, but what was this about training my senses?"

"We can start now if you're not too tired," he said.

I nodded and said, "Okay then, let's go. Team Kakashi, best luck with your own training, I'll stand with you when Zabuza attacks."

Kakashi eye-smiled, Naruto nodded, Sakura cocked her head to the side and Sasuke continued to brood. Brawly led me out of the house and we headed right back to Granite Cave. Brawly led Tyra and I deep into the cave, and then, out of nowhere, turned off his flashlight. "You use your eyes too much to be effective in the Hidden Mist technique, and that kid you talked about specializes in Black Ops style fighting. You need to be able to sense chakra. I've trained down in these caves for a very long time, so long that I don't even need sight to get around. I don't expect you to do the same, but I'm going to come at you from different directions, I want you to expand your awareness… feel for life, and chakra."

I closed my eyes, released my pokemon and explained the training. We began to concentrate. It took me a week to even recognize the fact that I was not alone in the cave just through chakra sensing, but with time, I began to recognize the location, and size of a chakra source purely through focus, and eventually, without thinking. As I meditated on Brawly's location, I gradually began to sense pokemon as well. So I had my pokemon battle the wild pokemon in the complete darkness for training.

It took me almost two weeks to master Brawly's skill, but it took Tyra about a week, she was a natural. When I had passed all of Brawly's tests, we left the cave. It took quite a while for me to adjust to the light of the outside world, but soon, although everything was super-bright, it didn't hurt my eyes. "You've learned everything I could teach you, and I'm pretty sure your pokemon learned a thing or two as well. You've earned this: it's the official KNUCKLE badge. Just owning it ups your pokemon's defense, as well as earns you another ninja rank, you are an official apprentice mercenary. Go and show Zabuza the price of making an enemy of you."

I nodded enthusiastically and headed first to Tazuna's house to check on Team Kakashi. I found Trya tying up two thugs while Inari and Tsunami looked on, she grunted as she tied the knots tight. Inari shouted, "Naruto and the others went to the bridge, you've got to help them!"

I nodded and took off. I deactivated my running shoes as I touched down next to Kakashi and asked, "What's the situation?"

"Naruto and Sasuke are fighting Haku, that kid who posed as a black-ops member, I want to help, but I need to hold big and nasty here off of Tazuna, go help Naruto and Sasuke! Do not go inside the Ice mirror trap!"

"Right!" I shouted, and skirted around Kakashi and Zabuza's battle. I approached the Ice mirrors and released Ka, "Okay, let's melt these big boys…" I said, motioning to the mirrors.

Suddenly the water at my feet swirled up and took the shape of Zabuza, "Not so fast, brat!" he shouted and swung his sword down.

I dodged left and Ka dodged right. With a lighting fast draw I slashed out at the Water clone, but he blocked it with his giant sword. "Over compensating for something with the sword?" I teased.

"Buying time for my own mercenaries to show up with the sword," he said with a sadistic glint in his eyes, "A little birdie told me you were looking for Captain Stern, and these gentlemen happened to be looking for what you planned on delivering to him, a happy coincidence."

"This is the guy?" asked a new voice.

I lashed out again with my swords, this time destroying the clone and turned around. Five members of Team Aqua had me suddenly surrounded. I hissed under my breath and released all my pokemon. One for each grunt. They released their pokemon, an assortment of Poochyenas and Crawdaunts. "Face the pokemon in front of you!" I commanded, "Kotetsu, Take Down! Sui, Mud shot! Ka, Double Kick! Ameterasu, Absorb! Tsukuyomi, Confusion!"

I looked at the guy directly in front of me and activated my running shoes. I sped behind him and hit him upside the head with the hilt of my primary sword as Ka barraged his Poochyena with powerful kick combos. He fell to the side and clutched his concussed head. My blade ringed as it came home into its scabbard. "Help the others," I commanded to Ka and attacked another grunt. I felt one of the other grunts knee me in the side, I took the hit and lashed out with my sword, gashing my surprise attacker's chest. I leapt back and tripped over a Poochyena. I hit the ground hard and the grunts swarmed to attack me, but Ka shot a fireball their direction, giving me time to stand up. The grunts' pokemon were doing better than I had suspected they would. The concussed grunt stood back up and threw a punch at me. I had to make sure he didn't get up, but I also wasn't a killer, so I dodged behind him again and hamstrung him. He'd recover. He screamed and fell over a second time. In the distance I heard Zabuza scream, "I know how I'm going to counter your Sharingan! Hidden Mist jutsu!"

Mist closed on us rapidly, making it almost impossible to see my feet connecting with the ground. "Time for practical application of our training!" I shouted and closed my eyes while extending my senses. Three grunts were still standing, the one with the gash on his chest was getting smacked around by Ka, so he didn't count. I snuck up behind two of the grunts and smashed their heads together.

The last one I pointed my primary sword to his neck and whispered, "I'm going to knock you out now, but before I do, I want to convey a message to your boss… he's not to mess with the Devon Corporation any more. Or I'll find him. Sleep well… Sleep Powder, Ameterasu."

I ducked away as green powder swarmed around the final grunt and he passed out. I recalled all my pokemon and reached out my senses again, the grunts' pokemon were trying to wake up their incapacitated masters. That was fine, but farther away from me, Sakura was the only one protecting Tazuna while Kakashi and Zabuza fought, which was expected, but Naruto seemed to be fighting against Haku alone. When I concentrated I could feel Sasuke's chakra barely flicker, but then my senses were overloaded. A foul, red, and murderous chakra started to leak of Naruto.

The Aqua grunts' pokemon stopped, looked over in the direction of Naruto and fled. This was the chakra of a Tailed Beast, the Nine Tailed Fox Spirit. I had to open my eyes and stop sensing to halt the double reaction of puking while peeing myself. That was some seriously messed up mojo inside Naruto, and I was pretty sure Naruto couldn't just pull out nine-tails chakra. Something had happened, then everything clicked into place, Naruto thought Sasuke was dead, and his rage had let some of the evil chakra out.

I fell to a knee as I tried to regain control of my body, but I was shaking with fear. I forced myself to stand up, and after about thirty seconds of fighting, Naruto's chakra settled again and the Nine-tails' chakra faded. A couple seconds after that I heard barking and the mist faded away. I jumped into the middle area of the battlefield so I could analyze both battles, but they had both come to a standstill. Kakashi had Zabuza restrained with several large dogs wearing Leaf Ninja regalia, while Naruto and Haku faced each other, Haku explaining something to Naruto. I leapt over to Sasuke and felt for his pulse, it was just barely there. Inside my bag was a medical kit, so I yanked it out and very, very carefully started removing senbon needles from Sasuke's body and bandaging him up. Then Naruto started moving again, going for the kill on Haku, but Haku blocked and teleported, right in front of Zabuza, to block Kakashi's move. It looked like Kakashi was grabbing lightning, and he shoved it full on into Haku's chest, Kakashi's hand coming out the other side of Haku's body. I thought I'd be ready to see someone die, I wasn't. I hurled, and hurled again. I got a bit on Sasuke I hurled so much. It was disgusting, it was wrong. I fell to my knees and hurled again. Haku's blood was everywhere, on himself, the bridge, Kakashi, and even Zabuza. I hurled again. Naruto came up and tapped my shoulder and said, "We've got to go help Kakashi sensei!"

I wiped my mouth off, stood up and chased after Naruto. Sasuke wouldn't die, the wounds were like Zabuza's after the first battle, meaning he was in a death-like state. Steadier hands than mine could help him later. Kakashi stabbed both of Zabuza's arms with Kunai, rendering both arms useless. "You're getting your ass kicked, heh! As expected…" said a short man with crazy grey hair and sunglasses.

Behind him were at least a hundred thugs, bristling with pointy edges. "Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive, and they may betray me, so I get you missing-nins who are easy to take care of afterwards. I have you ninja fight each other, and once you're weakened, I kill you in numbers. It's totally free, one of my best ideas to date. Now that you're wounded Zabuza, you're a joke. A baby devil from the mist."

The thugs behind him cheered and one shouted, "We can easily kill you now!"

"Kakashi, I'm sorry," Zabuza said, "Our fight is over, I have no reason to kill Tazuna, or fight you."

"I guess so…" Kakashi said carefully.

"And this one… squeezed my arm until it broke, damn kid," said the man as he kicked Haku's dead body.

"What are you doing?" demanded Naruto, "You bastard!"

He tried to charge the group of thugs, but Kakashi held him back, so Naruto turned to Zabuza and demanded, "Weren't you two always together? Don't you feel anything at all?"

"Shut up kid, Haku is already dead…" said Zabuza with a shrug, "We ninjas are just tools, ask your mercenary friend there. I didn't want Haku for him anyways, I just wanted his blood. As I was used by this scumbag Gatou, I used Haku. That was all it was, don't over-think it. In the world of Shinobi, there are those who are used, and those who use."

Naruto broke free of Kakashi's grip and demanded, "You really believe that?"

Zabuza did nothing, so Naruto shouted, "Then you're still my enemy! Haku loved you! You were his precious person, he died for you! How can you feel nothing? Do you… do you really feel nothing? When I… when I become strong like you… will I become like you? Haku died without any dream but yours… he died a tool… that's just too sad."

"Kid…" Zabuza said, his body shaking, "Shut your god damn mouth… Haku didn't just fight for me, he fought for you too, so that you could find a precious person of your own. I've lost, I can't kill these emotions, just like he couldn't. He got inside my heart, and made me soft too. You got a Kunai kid?"

Naruto shook his head, "Fresh out…"

I pulled out the Ruby and tossed it to Zabuza, saying, "I want it back after…"

"Thanks, what was your name, Mercenary?"

"Brendan. Brendan, from Littleroot town, in the Land of Gemstones…"

"I'm sad that I won't be able to see you reach your prime, as well as that annoying brat in the orange."

Zabuza charged the thugs, the Ruby in his mouth like a knife, and he set into them with a fury. No matter how many wounds he took, he charged through, and cut off Gatou's head with the Ruby. I grabbed Zabuza's giant sword and I leapt into the air and landed next to him, and he spat my blade's handle back into my hand. I sheathed it and it rang as it always does. I twirled his blade above my head like a toothpick, it was light, but I had seen first-hand its deadly edge. I growled, "Run… run while you can, and then maybe… maybe I won't give you the fate you deserve."

At first they stood together, but then, one by one, they ran. But until the last one was out of eye-sight I stood completely still. Then I dropped the sword and fell to a knee. Zabuza chuckled, "You used my Executioner's blade like a natural… in my back-pocket, there's a sealing scroll, I sealed the manual to the sword inside of that scroll, it also serves as a way to keep the sword in long term storage. I had a water clone watching you deal with the Aquas… I had planned to bribe you to change sides. Probably because you… you seem to fight like me, but think like Haku. I'm sorry… sorry that I attacked you. Take the sword and my headband as recompense… if you think you can shoulder the burden, I name you my successor, if not, I charge you with finding my successor. I know you don't have to do this… but I hope you will, as my dying wish to a fellow mercenary."

I quietly slipped off his headband and pocketed it, as well as the sealing scroll, which I used to seal the sword away. "You can count on it…" I whispered.

I looked up to see that Team Kakashi had found Sasuke as he was waking up… I hoped my first aid had helped. "Brendan…" Zabuza called, "Could you let me see him… one last time?"

"Sure…" so I brought Haku to his side, and gave them a moment. Team Kakashi walked over too, and we watched Zabuza leave this world, hopefully, to be with Haku in the next life. "What happened to Zabuza's sword?" Sakura asked.

I held up the sealing scroll and said, "He entrusted it to me… He told me why, but I feel like I'm missing a few facts, maybe you guys could clue me in to his relationship with Haku."

They did as we watched over the completion of the bridge. As Sasuke was recovering from his wounds, I went out and found Captain Stern, he and Mr. Briney were talking by a huge building which looked like it was built over a cove, totally encasing it. I delivered him the briefcase. He looked surprised and asked, "It take a while to find Steven?"

"No… I got mixed up with Gatou's thugs and… certain missing-nin. It's all over now though, you can do your research in peace."

"I see, well, thank you, and I hope nobody got hurt."

"Team Kakashi of the hidden Leaf is tending to its wounds with Tazuna, the bridge builder. We'll see how long it takes, but Sasuke is in no shape to travel until he's fully healed. "Could he endure a boat-ride?" Mr. Briney asked.

"I suppose…" I said, "Would you do that?"

"Yes, I'm sure the hospitals in the Hidden Leaf are superior to the first aid in this village. I'll bring my boat to Tazuna's place. He's an old friend."

I nodded and headed back to tell Kakashi. "That's a great help actually," Kakashi said, "I'll get everybody ready to go."

In less than an hour we were all ready to go, and on the ride home, I told Tyra my side of the story. She whispered to me, "So what are you going to do with the Executioner's blade? I mean… that's quite the weapon…"

"I don't know," I said, "I think I'll just keep moving forwards until something comes to me."

She cocked her head to the side, squinted at me, shrugged and then sighed, "That's soo… Brendan-ish of you…"

"What does that mean?"

"That its sounds fine, but something bugs me about it. It'll still work out in the end though."

"Isn't that what counts?"

"I know you think so… but I'd prefer a bit more flair, it's gonna make the book I write one day about you that much more dramatic."

"…Right… I'll keep that in mind."

As we finished our conversation we arrived in Misty Cove. Sasuke was fully bandaged and capable of moving on his own. Team Kakashi started walking along the path home. "Uh, why don't we hurry up a bit?" I asked, "I know you guys can jump through the tree branches…"

"Sasuke shouldn't do that kind of thing until he's in better shape, you go on ahead," Kakashi said with an eye smile, so Tyra and I leapt off to report back in for our mission.

This time we made it all the way back to Konoha by nightfall. The Hokage's courtyard was closed for the day, so we met with him in his office. The President of Devon was there too and the two men proceeded to debrief me, "I take it you delivered both the letter and the goods?" Mr. Stone asked.

"Yes, Steven was even kind enough to give me a rare pokemon. Captain Stern's research can start up again with the goods delivered."

"Excellent," Mr. Stone said, "I've already paid for this mission, Lord Hokage here will be kind enough to give you your share of the cash after you two are done talking, I however, have a business to run, if I need anything else… I'll send for you."

"Thank you sir," I said.

Once he'd left I sighed and then said, "So I encountered Team Aqua again, I told them to back off Devon Corporation, but there's no telling if they actually will and what their ultimate goal is."

"Well, it took some doing, but we found out something about their goals… they held a rally in the Land of Water recently, looking for members," The Third Lord replied, "They promised pokemon, places of power, and acceptable pay, towards the goal of… this may sound odd, but expanding the sea."

"That explains the 'Aqua' part."

"Indeed it does, but they also did something else at the rally, they talked about how they need to crush a group that now opposes them… Team Magma. We can assume that they are also a criminal group, but bent more towards expanding the land mass. If these two organizations become big enough, they could shift and then destroy the balance of power in the Elemental Nations, and drag all of us into another Ninja World War… as such, we need to start training our genin to use pokemon themselves as fast as we can. Tomorrow, I would like you to take Team Kurenai to catch their first pokemon. When and Where do you want to meet them in two days time?"

"Uh… I guess Training Zone 3 at 8am sharp," I said.

"They will be there, after you help them catch their pokemon, you can pick which genin to take where to best catch pokemon without making more than one trip to some of the more… exotic locations you may need to travel to. As I understand it, Team Kurenai's recommended pokemon are of the local variety."

I nodded and said, "I'll put in an order for some pokescrolls tonight."

"Much appreciated," The Third Lord said with a smile, "Thank you for your assistance, we are lucky to have you."

"The pleasure is mine, as well as the cash?"

The old man chuckled and tossed me a manila envelope filled with enough cash for a B-rank mission. "For your extra efforts…" said the hokage with a smirk, "you take care of the Executioner's blade… you hear?"

"How did you know?" I asked.

The Third lightly tapped a crystal ball on his desk and I gaped, if he saw and heard the conversation between me and Zabuza… that thing had range. I backed out of the room and closed the door behind me. I visited the professor, showed him my new pokemon and ordered the pokescrolls I would need for my next mission. From there I sped off to my house and found my parents lounging about. I walked up to my Dad and handed him the cash. He opened the envelope and poured out the bills, neatly stacked. "How did you get this much?" he asked.

"I took a mission that ended up being like several missions, I have two days off. I intend to sleep heavily throughout the next forty-eight hours."

He nodded and silently started flipping through a Weekly Shonen Jump. My mother smiled and said, "You are your father's son…"

I smiled, went upstairs and crashed hard. I don't remember dreaming much that night, but the next day I felt rejuvenated and celebrated a job well done by going to the book store. I found a couple finds, such as a scroll on the theory of shadow shuriken, a book called The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja, and most importantly, from the ninja-only section, a bingo book. When I got back home I put the scroll and bingo book to the side and started in on The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja. By nightfall I had finished half the book, and every time I read the main character's name I smiled to myself. I decided that one day, I would have to meet this Jiraiya. After dinner I brought out the Bingo book and scanned the Hidden Leaf's ninja profiles section, and to my great surprise, encountered Jiraiya again. He was a member of the Great Sanin of the Leaf, and mentor to the Fourth Lord Hokage. My interest doubled. I thought about asking the Third Hokage for an introduction, who as it turned out, taught Jiraiya, but decided I'd have to be more important to the village to ask for such a favor.

The day after that I spent going through all my supplies and replacing what needed replacement. I stocked up on first aid supplies of which I was in great need. At the ninja tool shop I picked up on explosive tags and two Demon Windmill shuriken. I picked up the pokescrolls I'd ordered and finally polished my swords in the comfort of my room. This took up the majority of my day and since I had another big day coming up, I got to bed early.

The next day I was waiting at the Training grounds at precisely 8 o'clock, waiting for Team Kurenai while I ate a bagel and egg breakfast. Just before 8:01 they walked into the clearing, panting up a storm. "Alright," I said, "So, here's how this is going to work: I'm going to take one of you at a time into the forest area here and we'll search for pokemon. The others in the party will wait here and practice whatever it was you guys were doing yesterday with your sensei. Out of curiosity, what were you doing yesterday?"

"Tree-climbing, with no hands," Kiba barked.

I walked up to the tree, and focusing my chakra into my feet, walked up the side and upside down onto the biggest branch, "Like this?" I asked.

"Yeah! You're a natural like Hinata!"

I waved it off and said, "Well, get to work, Hinata, you can come first as Ralts will be hardest to find…"

She nodded as I flipped down back onto the ground and followed as I walked into the forest. "So," I said, "What's your range like for your byakugan?"

"I-i-it's about 10 meters all around me…"

"Oh," I said, "Well, it wouldn't be fair if it was easy I guess, train hard and you'll get it. Another purpose for pokemon is that they make such great training buddies. Be nice to your Ralts and it'll be nice to you. Anyways, turn on your eyes and look for a small white elf-like creature."

She nodded and the veins near her eyes became raised and enlarged. She stayed completely still and then shook her head, "None nearby, Mr. Brendan."

"Please, just Brendan…" I protested and extended my senses. Nearby was a great many pokemon, none of which I could really identify without seeing. So I started walking this way and said, "Follow me…"

She did, falling into step with me as we approached the nest. When we were within ten meters I said, "Now check… any elves over there?"

She nodded her head and said, "I-I-I think so…"

"Great, I'll distract the other pokemon, you go in there, throw this trap at it," I handed her one of Lyra's rigged antique pokeballs, "and then use this scroll, just open it, push chakra into it and point it at the Ralts."

"I'm n-n-not sure I can do this…" she stuttered.

"Sure you can," I said, "it's easy, we have a plan, and I have faith in you."

She gulped and then nodded. I headed over to the clearing where the pokemon were playing in the tall grass. I jumped in and shouted, scaring the crap out of them. The Taillow, shroomish, Poochyenas and Zigzagoons all ran full speed away, but the Ralts cocked its head at me. Hinata snuck up behind it and threw her ball at the unsuspecting creature. The sound of a taizer filled the air and the Ralts fell to a knee. Hinata gulped and used the Pokescroll. It shot out and grabbed the ralts tight, and after a slight struggle, caught it.

I ran up to her, and she gave back the rigged pokeball and I hugged her tight. "Great job, let's go get your teammates now too."

She nodded and smiled. We headed back into the main clearing and I took back Kiba to catch a Poochyena and then Shino to catch a Nincada. Once they all had their pokemon, they released them all simultaneously. Shino's Nincada attached to his master's shoulder, Hinata's Ralts hid behind Hinata's leg, and Kiba's Poochyena chased Akamaru around. "Very nice," I said, "You guys are all pokemon trainers now, and these pokemon are in your care. I urge you to treat them with love and kindness so that they will fight their hardest when you fight alongside them. For the rest of the day, read their scrolls, it will tell you their moves and give you the ability to nick-name them, figure out how they attack and tomorrow, report to Kurenai so that you guys can use their abilities to the fullest. As a congratulatory gift, I'll give each of you three pokescrolls, so that you can go out and catch other pokemon if they catch your fancy. Some trainers like to catch one specific type, others like myself prefer variety, but I think maybe what you guys will focus on is rather which pokemon can best assist your style of fighting. If any of you have any questions, near the Hokage building is Professor Birch's lab, he is a famous professor of pokemon, and should be able to help you. If you want to make your pokemon stronger, then battle against other pokemon, whether that be with each other's or against wild pokemon, or hell against mine, I don't care, but make sure that any day you tend to your own skills you work on your pokemon as well."

They all nodded and ran off to go train and learn about the wonderful world they'd just entered, the wonderful world of Pokemon.

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Marshstomp<br>Ka – Combusken  
>Tsukuyomi – Dustox<br>Ameterasu – Beautifly  
>Kotetsu – Beldum<p>

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<br>KNUCKLE BADGE

COMPANIONS:  
>Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun. <p>


	6. Chapter 6

Ash covered the ground as far as the eye could see, but that's what happened when you visited an active volcano. This was Mt. Chimney, a sacred place in the Land of Fire, known for its glass flutes made from glass, cookies, and exotic pokemon. "We're here to find a Machop for Sakura, a Numel for Chouji, and a Vulpix for Naruto," I said, "So, Tyra, you said this is the only place in the Land of Fire that we could find all three… lead the way."

She nodded, and started pointing, "Down towards the base there is the Fiery Path, which leads to the center of the volcano, Numels like to make new tunnels down there, and Machop like to train in the intense heat. Vulpix won't be found there, however, but at a sacred shrine at the top of the volcano. I'll lead Sakura and Chouji into Fiery Path, you take Naruto to the shrine."

I nodded to Naruto and we took off up the side of the volcano. Sure enough, near the top was indeed a shrine dedicated to the spirits of the earth, and their pokemon. "This is it, huh?" Naruto asked, "This is gonna be so sick! I can't wait!"

He ran up to the shrine, threw open the doors and ran inside. I took my time walking in, and found Naruto in the main room of the shrine. There were three doors, one to the left, one to the right, and one to the center. "Which way should we go?" asked Naruto, "Nevermind, I'll just create clones!"

Then something happened, The Ruby began to shine, and burned on my back. I drew it to find the blade glowing with blazing red fire. Then it moved my arm and pointed at the middle door. I let the blade lead me, Naruto and his clones following behind. The next room was covered in an inch of dust and cobwebs, but the blade kept leading me on until it touched the back wall. Blue light shone in a specific pattern, and from these patterns, fire burned away the dust and cobwebs, and the room's walls and ceiling lit up, revealing that it was painted and carved to the likeness of a storybook monster. "This isn't a shrine to Mt. Chimney…" I gasped, "This is a shrine to Groudon… the pokemon of the Earth."

"What's a Groudon?" Naruto asked.

"It's a Legendary pokemon, so, if one believes the legends, then it is the spirit of the Earth, personified and given form. It was said to be capable of scorching the earth by walking, causing droughts with a glance… it nearly destroyed the world in its battle with its polar opposite, Kyogre. We shouldn't be in this room."

I sheathed my sword and scampered back to the main room. I was shaking so badly I couldn't see straight. Naruto tapped my shoulder and I flinched, he asked with a concerned look, "Are you okay… I don't understand why that's gotten you so shaken up… is Groudon really that bad?"

"No," I responded, "But people's desire to capture and control it is… in the past, humans unleashed him, and we almost didn't survive the aftermath."

"Do you want to leave?" Naruto asked, "Maybe Tyra can help me catch Vulpix."

"I do want to leave, but I have a responsibility to you, and to my employer, so let's look around some more."

Naruto nodded and we went into the room to the right. Inside was a tablet, which was in a language I couldn't read, but I didn't doubt it was about Groudon. But what interested Naruto was the Golden Vulpix standing on top of the tablet. I handed him Tyra's shock-ball and a pokescroll and said, "Use the shock ball to weaken it, then open the scroll, think about the Vulpix, and push chakra into the scroll."

Naruto nodded and did exactly that, capturing the pokemon with ease, "I… I did it! It was so easy too!" he cried.

I picked up the shock ball and we headed back out to the place where we'd split apart from Tyra, "Don't tell anybody about what we saw in the shrine… okay Naruto?"

"I don't really get it, but it must be important. Okay."

While we waited I taught Naruto how to summon his pokemon and the basics of battle and training. Naruto named his Vulpix kage, either for his favorite jutsu or his desired prefession. Kage had taken a liking to Naruto's jacket collar and was currently doing her best impression of Akamaru. "She's warm…" Naruto noted, a dumb smile on his face.

It was that moment that Tyra, Sakura and Chouji returned, their new pokemon in tow. Sakura had bandaged Machop's legs, giving it the impression of shorts, and was looking at it with an eyebrow quirked up. Chouji was munching on chips and occasionally handing a chip or two to Numel. "Why don't you introduce your new friends guys?" I asked.

"This is Chip, because like me, he likes chips," Chouji replied, "I even caught him using a trail of chips, he's perfect!"

I smiled and looked over to Sakura, who responded, "This is Tai, and I didn't know pokemon could be humanoid… I know he doesn't have any visible… parts… but it seemed indecent to have him parading around in his birthday suit… What's that Naruto! It's so cute!"

Kage winced, the sound of Sakura's voice hitting unknown octaves. Its eyes flashed red and it spat flame in her direction, thankfully missing, but singeing Naruto's jacket. "Whoa! Calm down Kage!" shouted Naruto, "It's just Sakura, she's a friend. Uh, this is Kage, because I'm going to be Hokage," (I would like to note here that I did, in fact, call it) "and she's a Vulpix. A fox that is both fiery and spiritual."

"Don't steal my lines…" I rebuked, I had told him that on the run over.

He scratched his head and grinned at me mischievously… maybe giving him a pokemon known for its mischievousness was a bad idea. Too late now…

"Alright, that aside, everybody caught the pokemon they wanted, mission complete, let's head home," I said with my own grin. I nervously glanced up at the shrine, and noticed three people in strange red outfits hiking towards said shrine. "Who's that?" I asked.

"It took us so long to get through the security… I guess someone came in after us?" asked Chouji.

"No," Sakura responded, "This site contains a sacred shrine to the Hidden Leaf, only leaf ninjas are allowed in, those are trespassers."

"Time to test our new pokemon!" shouted Naruto.

Chouji grinned and Sakura nodded. "Scatter," I whispered.

We all took paths to come up in front of them, and we all reached our positions before the trespassers had even realized they weren't alone. They wore red and black clothes, they looked fire-proof and odd hoods with a stylized 'M' on them. "Team Magma I take it?" I asked.

"You've heard of us?" asked one with a smirk, "then you know we use pokemon, genin like you are no match for us!"

"We have pokemon too!" shouted Naruto, and Kage leapt out of his jacket.

Tai jumped in front of Sakura and Chip puffed smoke and snorted at the Magma grunts.

"Remember, your scrolls say what kind of moves your pokemon can use," I said, "Become acquainted with what those moves are and it'll get easier, for now, refer to your scrolls."

All three nodded and the Magmas scowled and replied, "We've been battling for a bit longer than you clowns… we have the advantage."

The Magmas locked glares with a genin and released their own pokemon. Kage was fighting a Zubat, Tai was up against a Poochyena and Chip glared balefully at another Zubat. Naruto looked at his scroll and shouted, "uh… Ember?"

Kage breathed in and shot out a burst of flame directly at the enemy Zubat, scorching it. A normal ember attack wouldn't have been so strong, but Vulpix had the home field advantage, and scored a one-hit Knock Out. Tai went for a Low Kick on Sakura's say-so, taking out Poochyena through type advantage and Numel shot out some fire of its own, ending the other Zubat. The Magmas called back their pokemon and went into a screaming retreat. Naruto and Kage chased them down, spitting shuriken and fire respectively. "Those two suit each other…" Tyra noticed, "He's good with pokemon, he's already rubbing off on Kage."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Certain people believe that as pokemon and their trainers grow, they become more alike. Naruto is a good example to that theory."

"So, what?" asked Chouji, "Is Naruto some kind of pokemon genius?"

"Impossible!" shouted Sakura.

"Nah, the only genius around here is Brendan," Tyra said with a sideways glance, "His pokemon haven't been with him for very long, but they adore him."

"You flatter me," I said.

"Oooh, and a gentleman," Tyra teased.

Sakura tilted her head as she looked at me, as if studying a mystery. Then she said, "Meh, Sasuke is so much cooler though."

"As I recall I beat him… and you… oh and Naruto," I said, counting off my fingers, "So, uh… look at the scoreboard before you talk shit."

"Burn!" shouted Chouji.

"shaddup!" Sakura snapped, blushing, "he beat you too!"

Chouji chuckled and waved her off, I looked back down for Naruto and he was huffing, jumping up and down and waving his arms to get our attention. He was holding down one of the Magmas with a triumphant manner about him. After tying up the Grunt, we started the trek back to Konoha. As we approached the village, we were greeted by ANBU ninjas, the black ops division, who took the terrified grunt into custody. In the hokage's courtyard, the three genin presented their new pokemon to the Third Lord and went to go train. After they left, he looked over to me and asked, "So… why do you think that Team Magma was at Mt. Chimney?"

"Did you know what's in the shrine there?" I asked.

"As far as I am aware it was a place used to train under extreme heat, with a shrine to the volcano's spirit."

"It was a shrine to the Groudon, the pokemon of the earth and bringer of droughts. Maybe they idolize Groudon, and were there to pay their respects."

"hm… I'll put the shrine under watch. Could you tell me more about the abilities of Groudon?"

"It is not a pokemon meant to be controlled by man. I was raised on stories of why not to mess around with anything Kyogre or Groudon… it frankly makes me nervous to talk about them. I could get you an old book… It's a long book, but it tells the entire story of the Three Super-Ancient Pokemon."

The third lord chuckled and nodded, saying, "I'd like that, I'll pick it up from you tomorrow when you take Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Sasuke Uchiha to capture their pokemon, okay?"

I nodded and left to return to my house. I collapsed in my bed and slept through dinner. I woke up to the smell of bacon. My mother had made me a meal for two. "You didn't get dinner and you have a big mission today right?" she asked.

"I'll probably be gone for a couple days, Meteor falls is in the Land of Wind. Three days traveling there, as long as it takes to catch some pokemon, and then three days back."

"I'll pack some food for my big ninja then."

I sighed in exasperation, what was I? A five year-old? I shrugged and inhaled the food, I ended up being hungrier than I thought. I checked my equipment and grabbed some supplies from my mom as I ran out the door. I nearly forgot the book I had promise Lord Hokage, but I grabbed it from my dad's desk on the way out. At the gate, Ino was standing a bit too close to be polite to Sasuke and Shikamaru was laying on his back staring at the clouds. The Third Lord was standing a bit off to the side, silently smiling at the genin. I handed him his book, which he gratefully accepted and promptly left. "Ready to go?" I asked.

Sasuke nodded, Shikamaru sighed and Ino was too busy staring at Sasuke to notice I had arrived. I felt the tick marks cover the back of my head, I did not like to be ignored. I flicked her ear with a bit of chakra and she jumped and squealed. "Some ninja… eh, dummy? And I got Lazy today too. Hey Sasuke, you ready to go, cause these two clearly aren't. Ino, where is your backpack and supplies? Shikamaru brought those, but I think he might be asleep…"

Ino glared balefully at me and asked, "I thought we were just going outside of the village, why would I need a backpack and supplies?"

"We're going on a week-long excursion to the Land of Wind, which is where we can find all three of your desired pokemon. Tyra would be here, but she isn't allowed in the Land of Wind on pain of death, don't ask why… you don't want to know."

Even Sasuke looked intrigued, so I sighed, "She might have… used her pokemon to terrify the Feudal Lord after he called her flat-chested. She had her Plusle and Minun run around his office, shooting off sparks of electricity strong enough to kill a mouse."

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed.

I shrugged and we set off. We camped out in the forest and upon entering the Land of Wind, I had the genin take off their headbands. "What we're doing here would be frowned upon by the feudal lords, we have an alliance with Suna… but we're not that close with them, so the headbands go away, without them, we're just mercenaries, under my command, clear?"

Sasuke nodded, Shikamaru nodded and Ino sighed and then nodded. I rolled my eyes and we continued on towards Meteor falls. Contrary to popular notion, The Land of Wind is not all desert, just the majority of it. In the north-eastern area is a cave system called Meteor Falls, famous for its towering waterfall, meteor craters, and rare pokemon. It was in fact, the only place in the world that Solroc and Lunatone could be found. As we entered the caves, I marveled at the strange orange rock that the caves were made of. I reached for my pack, pulled out the shock balls and three photos. I handed the picture of Abra to Ino and said, "It's extremely weak in its first form, but once it evolves it is quite formidable, it teleports, so don't hesitate, hit it with the shock ball and then capture it using the pokescrolls you brought. Got it?"

She nodded and I motioned for her to get started. Then I gave a picture of Solroc to Shikamaru and said, "Different deal with you, Solroc is a rock-type, the shock ball won't do anything against it. So we'll fight it with my Sui. And as for you Sasuke, the shock ball doesn't work well against dragons either, so we'll fight him with my Kotetsu. This is what Bagon looks like, I want one too, so tell me when you find one."

He nodded and began the search and we all turned on our radios. Shikamaru and I found a Solroc floating about near the top of the caves. I called out Sui and shouted, "Water Gun!"

Sui shot a bullet of water to a direct hit. Solroc turned to look at us, and rushed at us. Once it was close to the ground I shouted, "Mudshot!"

Sui shot a stream of mud directly at the solroc, immobilizing it. Shikamaru sent out his pokescroll and captured the enemy Solroc. I gave him a high-five and said, "Sweet, we'll meet up with you outside the entrance, find a place that you can hide, can't be too careful."

He nodded and leapt out of the cave. Ino was screeching with what sounded like rage near the waterfall. An Abra was teleporting around her rapidly and her scroll couldn't latch onto it. I watched in amusement for a minute and realized that it was warping around her in a circular pattern, so I waited, and then grabbed hit, holding it still long enough for Ino to capture it. I clapped and said, "That was quite the show… but it would've been easier if you'd done as I'd said and used the shock ball… which I need back now."

She handed it over and said, "I tried… but I missed."

"Ah…" I said, "Well, I won't tell anybody, find Shikamaru outside and make sure he doesn't fall asleep."

She nodded, composed herself and headed outside. "You guys got permits to catch pokemon here?" asked a man near the cave entrance.

I winced and said, "I didn't think I'd need to, this is a public space and wild pokemon are free game."

"The pokemon division of the Village Hidden in the Sand disagrees," said the guy.

He was wearing running shoes, blue jeans, a yellow shirt and a red vest, he had the dark chocolate skin of a person not native to the Land of Elements, but had no accent and his hair was done in cornrows, died purple alternately. "They don't have one… I checked," I bluffed.

"Did some research huh? Not enough, I'm in charge of starting it, just like, if I'm right you are, but for Konoha," he said.

"I'm not from Konoha…" I lied.

"I've heard of you Brendan… from Professor Birch. Your actions here would be frowned upon by Suna…"

"You're friends with Professor Birch?" I asked hopefully.

"He learned how to make pokescrolls from my father, Bill."

"Small world," I noted, "How're we gonna go from here?"

"I don't care…" he said, "I care about the Team Magma creeps messing with the pokemon around here, you see 'em you take 'em out for me?"

"Done," I said.

"Great, oh, and I would avoid the Suna shinobi I brought with me… they might care."

"Noted," I said.

"By the way…" the guy said, "You can call me Satoshi…"

I nodded as I contacted Sasuke, he'd gotten up the waterfall and was looking for Bagon, so I climbed up too. I found him in a small cave near the back, crouched behind a rock, two Bagons were charging at each other and banging their heads against each other. One was shiny… they were supposed to be rare, but I sure seemed to bump into a lot of them. "I call the green-ish one," Sasuke said, "he's the one winning… go!"

I jumped up and shot out a pokescroll of my own to catch the regular Bagon. "I'll call him Ryu…" I said.

Sasuke smirked at his pokemon and I said, "head out to the entrance, Imma do a sweep for some malcontents, stay out of the way."

He nodded and we both exited the small cavern. Sasuke jumped off to meet up with Ino and Shikamaru, so I checked other caverns, but I didn't find any Magmas. In the main cavern, a Suna kunoichi was fighting against a Magma grunt, but she didn't have any pokemon. She was losing. She had a giant fan, but the Magma's Numel shot magma at her, forcing her to ditch it. She fell to one knee and the grunt laughed. I jumped in between them, punched the guy and then kicked his Numel to the other side of the river that lead to the Waterfall. "You fight cheap!" I shouted, "Let's see if you can pick on someone your own size."

I released Sui and shouted, "Mud shot!"

Numel was down with one shot, and I noticed scratch marks on it, this girl had down damage to a pokemon, impressive. I looked over to her, she glared up at me and demanded, "Who are you?"

"I'm saving your ass," I said, "You don't need to know more than that."

The Magma shouted, "You're the better trainer, but I have this!"

I recalled Sui as he threw a bomb up to the stalactites decorating the ceiling. They started to rain down on us, so I grabbed the girl and jumped off and into the river below. We hit the water like a brick wall, I felt my arm break as it protected the girl. I screamed and inhaled water. I thought I was going to drown, defending a girl I didn't know… what a stupid way to die. But she pulled me out of the water and onto the shoreline of the cave. I groaned as I hit my arm wrong as I plopped down on the ground. The girl groaned and said, "You hurt yourself for me… and you don't even know me. What's wrong with you?"

I looked at her, and her teal eyes entranced me. "I don't know what came over me…" I said.

"I could have handled the rocks with my fan," she said, "did you think that I was weak because I'm a girl?"

"Ha, no…" I said, "I saw that you hurt that Numel… only a really strong shinobi can hurt pokemon."

She looked at me strangely and asked, "What… do I have something on my face?"

"I've never seen quite that shade of blue before…" I said.

She blushed and asked, "Are you hitting on me, at the bottom of a cavern… with a broken arm that was completely unnecessary?"

I chuckled to myself and asked, "Is it working?"

She didn't say anything until she had finished splinting my arm. Then she asked, "So… seriously, what's your name?"

"You first."

"Temari of the desert."

"I'm Brendan of the Little-Root town. You here to catch pokemon?"

"I was thinking about it… what kind of pokemon was the one you used?"

"Marshstomp…" I said, "It wouldn't suit you… I think you would want a pokemon who uses air attacks like you…or maybe a fire pokemon to augment your wind into an inferno."

She looked over at me and said, "You're from Konoha… I can tell by your clothes. I'm betting a pokemon trainer mercenary. We could use people like you in our village, we pay better too."

"I'm a one village kind of guy…" I said with a smile, "But that may not always be true. You're an interesting one… strong, and I bet fast, and only a genin like me. I'm sure we'll meet again, but next time I'll remember not to break my arm."

"You suck at flirting…" she said with a huff.

"You're smiling… that means you like it."

She blushed and said, "It's a pity smile."

"Oh… so cruel. Probably the Cruelest Kunoichi I've ever met."

"Damn right," she barked.

"But I can see a soft light in your eyes…" I teased and she blushed in earnest and sputtered, so I continued, "That's not a bad thing. I rather like it."

"I don't like you."

"Don't lie to yourself."

She punched my broken arm and I barely held in a scream and the accompanying tears. "We'll meet again," I said, "and I personally can't wait. But for now… I have to go, genin to train and all that."

I stood up and walked toward the entrance, leaving Temari in the cave by herself. Outside, Sasuke and crew were waiting. Ino freaked out about my arm, but I waved her off and we started off for home. Once we got there, I had the genin present their pokemon to the third hokage, and satisfied, he dismissed them. I told him about my encounter with Satoshi, Team Magma and then Temari (leaving out the flirting with the enemy part, of course) and he said, "You know, in three weeks, the Chunin exams are taking place it'll be a good test for these genin with pokemon. Go to the hospital and get that arm looked at, next week you start training them and their pokemon each team getting you for a day every two days until the exams come around. You will of course participate as well as a benchmark."

"I understand," I replied and left with a fresh manila envelope filled with my paycheck. I dropped the envelop off at home and headed to the hospital where a medical ninja fixed my arm in about fifteen minutes.

A week later Team Kakashi was waiting for me at training ground three, their pokemon released. "Do we get a rematch today?" asked Sasuke.

"Nah," I answered, "I've given you guys some time to combine your ninjutsu with your pokemon's moves, show me what you guys have come up with. Starting with you Sasuke, you eager beaver…"

I hoped that he heard the sarcasm in my voice, but he didn't let it affect him if he did and he and his Bagon shot off simultaneous Grand Fireballs. They had good coordination of movement, they had obviously practiced together, and then Sasuke stopped moving and commanded Bagon to go through his entire moveset, it included a powerful Head butt, the grand fireball, a Swagger, and Dragon Rage.

I nodded my approval and said, "You figured out that pokemon can use the ninjutsu that they see, rather like your sharingan. Good for you. Next up I want to see Sakura."

Sakura had her Tai do his moveset, including Low Kick, Foresight, Bulk up and Strength. They moved perfectly together, so that Tai covered any weak spots in Sakura's taijutsu and vice versa. "Good Teamwork, but that's not really what I was looking for, you and Sasuke or Naruto could fight like that, this needs to use Tai's specialties to your advantage. Next up, Naruto, show me what you got."

Naruto nodded and said, "Well I figured that out too, sort of accidentally, when Kage did Shadow Clones just like me, let's show 'em!"

Suddenly the forest was filled with Naruto and Golden Vulpixes, but they dispersed rapidly, the real Naruto and Kage looked at each other and Naruto said, "Show him your moves!"

Kage knew Confuse ray, Ember, Will-o-wisp, and Shadow Ball, but then Naruto pulled out two demon windmill shuriken, glistening oddly in the sun, he snapped them open and shouted, "And now, for the grand finale! Demon Flame Wheel Jutsu!"

Kage blew flames onto the shuriken, which lit up in instants, they had been covered in oil! Then Naruto threw them at a nearby tree, and upon connecting, they exploded out. The flaming shrapnel had destroyed the trees and lit a couple nearby ones on fire. "Put 'em out you idiot!" I shouted and Naruto went into a panic to put the fires out.

That was a dangerous move, but it was what I was looking for. "Naruto got the idea through…" I said as said knucklehead put out the fires he'd caused, "he amplified his own jutsu with his pokemon. Sasuke, you taught it a jutsu, and Sakura used great team work, but Naruto created a new move that only the two of them together could make. Do you understand? The rest of the day is yours to use to figure out what I'm talking about… Naruto could you help them out?"

Naruto nodded, beaming. And so I turned and left the training ground. I spied on Team Kurenai and Team Asuma on my way out of the forest, they were having the limited success that Team Kakashi had had too. They still had time before the chunin exams. I smiled to myself and headed home to sneak in a nap.

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Marshstomp<br>Ka – Combusken  
>Tsukuyomi – Dustox<br>Ameterasu – Beautifly  
>Kotetsu – Beldum<br>Ryu - Bagon

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<br>KNUCKLE BADGE

COMPANIONS:  
>Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

Team Kurenai was spread out in front of me, panting, Hinata crouching in sheer exhaustion, Shino was panting and Kiba was sprawled on his back, Akamaru still standing, but his legs shaking. I huffed and said, "Okay, you've worked yourselves into exhaustion trying to come up with moves, but none of you have really thought about combinations. Naruto has a great combo with his pokemon… Kiba you were braggin that you were best suited for this task, but I have yet to see results…"

"I have improved, but my combo with Akamaru isn't something Poochyena can learn, only special nin-dogs can pick it up!"

"Don't they teach you anything in your ninja academies? Ninjutsu comes from copying pokemon moves! Of course your pokemon can learn the move, just go through the same steps as you did with Akamaru! Look, see that punching post? Do you combo with Akamaru and make your Poochyena watch a couple of times and he'll get it down!"

Kiba did so, giving Akamaru a food pill, using the man-beast mimicry technique he knew, and then spiraling into the punching post, obliterating it. I made Kiba turn to watch his Poochyena's eyes glint in recognition, so he gave his pokemon a food pill and Poochyena turned into a Kiba-like clone. They then performed a perfect fang-over-fang-over-fang. "See!" I shouted, "It's easy if you think and then do… you just have to be creative!"

Shino eyed me, I think anyways, through his sunglasses and summoned his pokemon. He held out his hands and summoned his beetles, and instantly, Nincada responded to his chakra. Nincada was agile and used its pinschers with great precision. "I see, they respond perfectly upon observing others… I can use this well."

Nincada clicked oddly, and started glowing, so I tossed Shino a pokescroll. He caught it, his eyebrow arched until his new Ninjask burst out of the shell that was his nincada. The empty shell flashed with light and Shino used his scroll on it, catching the rare and peculiar Shedinja. "I didn't know that could happen with pokemon…" he said quietly.

"Only that pokemon," I said, "The second pokemon, Sheinja, is very rare. It can't take a hit with any kind of force behind it, but unless it's a pokemon hitting, no matter how strong the move, it won't even phase it, and even among pokemon moves, only certain types work. Study up on it."

He nodded and I dismissed Kiba and Shino. I looked to Hinata and asked, "Have you been raising Ralts?"

She nodded shyly so I asked, "Did he learn any new moves?"

She nodded and her Ralts held up his hands and a several small transparent barriers came up around both Hinata and her pokemon. I flicked them and said, "Barrier… very nice. Any offensive moves?"

Both of them shook their heads, but then Hinata said, "But he can… sort of… cheer me on."

Ralts made pom-poms out of psychic energy and jumped up and down, and I saw Hinata's soft eyes harden just a little, and I felt myself grow a bit softer. "A useful move…" I said, "A helping hand that's by your side, for now… I think that's something you need, keep training."

Hinata looked down and said, "My… cousin, Neji, he's got a pokemon too. He's being taught by this girl May. His pokemon can't make barriers… but it can fight and use, strange powers. Will my pokemon grow to be like that?" she asked.

"Sometimes, a pokemon can learn a move just by watching ninja move or perform jutsu, but other pokemon can also teach your pokemon new moves. My advice would be to let your Ralts watch your cousin's pokemon and see what he can pick up. And I wouldn't worry about May too much… she's a total loser."

She flinched and I explained, "She thinks we're rivals. So she wanted to fight, but she wanted to fight right where we met, and people could have gotten hurt. Someone who can't control themselves like that… that's someone who's worse than scum."

Hinata nodded and headed off into the forest. I turned and went to training ground 3, to await Team Asuma. As I waited I dug into a boxed lunch my mom had made for me. As I licked my fingers, finishing the last rice-ball, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio walked in. Chouji's nostrils flared and he said, "Someone's been having Teriyaki Beef!"

I raised my hand and said, "That would be me, but enough about me… show me what you guys have been working on for the past week."

Shikamaru released his pokemon, who made the sun shine brighter, and thus making the shadows around him bigger, extending the range of his jutsu, just as I had said it would. Ino had her Abra teleport behind me and grab on to me, keeping me still enough for Ino to use her jutsu, which she thankfully didn't. I nodded in approval and Chouji drew out some kunai with explosion tags, he threw them and had them set off earlier than expected with his Numel's flames. I nodded in approval and said, "Very nice, you guys seem to get how your pokemon can help your own jutsu, so the next step is for your pokemon to work together for a combination like you guys have without you telling them how to act."

Shikamaru sighed, "How Troublesome…"

"Do you know how long it took to master this much?" Ino demanded.

"I'm not sure I can…" Chouji whined, "I'm so hungry…"

I shook my head in disapproval and waved as I walked away to catch train a bit myself.

The weeks leading up to the Chunin Exams were chock full of training breakthroughs, particularly with Kotetsu. I was feeling stronger than ever myself, and in good spirits, I'd been watching my pokemon recruits train in secret and in public when I wasn't training myself. Naruto in particular was coming up with comical tricks that Kage ate up with virtuoso. On the day of the First Exam I showed up early, and met with the First Proctor, he turned around and said, "Ah, the hokage's new pet project. I'm Ibiki, the proctor for the first exam. And you're punctual, very nice. This will be an exam made purely to encourage the genin to cheat… and to cheat well, after that, they'll have to make their first hard decision. We want you to be looking for people cheating with pokemon, and how. You'll be disguised as a proctor, he's a fake chunin uniform and headband. Go get changed and get ready. At one point, I will nod to you, and you will leave, and change back into your regular clothes, you will participate as a regular contestant from there on."

I nodded and released Kotetsu, as we had trained together, I realized that while his species kept him from learning new moves, his mind was quite active, and smart. He couldn't speak in sentences, but he could convey feelings, pictures, and actions. And after a great deal of trial and error, we had even figured out to use him like a camera. Greetings I conveyed, Attach/Ceiling, Eye/Eye

Warmth, he responded, Obedience.

He flew up to the center of the ceiling and attached himself to the plaster like he would a rock wall, and closed his large red eye, so as to not attract attention. I changed into my costume and tilted my headband to cover the eye I was sharing with Kotetsu, and left the room. An hour later, Ibiki warped myself and other proctors into the exam room, silencing the genin's squabbling. Sakura was beating Naruto upside the head for something. I nearly face-palmed, they needed to cut that kind of crap. Ibiki explained the rules and as the exam room grew quieter, my smile grew wider, this was gonna be fun. The exam started and for the first fifteen minutes almost nobody did anything. Then two people started answering questions and some of the genin figured it out. Begin I commanded.

Kotetsu opened his eye and I got a bird's-eye view of the exam room. One kid from the hidden rain had a bird pokemon on his shoulder, which took off and started circling the room, then it landed, and chirped into its master's ear. I deadpanned, how obvious? The genin did so another five times and I said, "Student 100, you're team is dismissed, that bird of yours is unusual, but terribly obvious."

He cursed and his squad members glowered at him as they left the room. Sasuke was eyeing me, and recognition flared in his eyes. Aw crap, I should have disguised my voice, I decided. Akamaru was quietly growling in Kiba's ears, and I smiled, at least that I couldn't prove was cheating. Hinata was using her Byakugan, clever girl, and Shino's bugs were lining up as words on his page. Excellent, my recruits might make it. Then I looked at Naruto, it was obvious he was panicking. Dumbass, he had to make it farther than the first exam… but I didn't interfere. Instead, another student caught my eye, May. Her Treeko was covertly sticking to the wall just behind Ibiki, winking answers at her while staying out of sight of nearly all the proctors. I marked her down for one, but that was all. In the back corner, Satoshi, the guy I'd met in Meteor Falls was sitting with his hand stroking a purple pokemon with red eyes, a red gemstone on its forehead and a forked tail. Its eyes were faintly glowing, it was obviously a psychic type, but from lands far away, cause I had no idea what it was. If that guy was here… then surely… Temari was here too. I found her, her four ponytails sticking back from her head in spikes, and caught her eyes. I winked and she squinted at me, her eyes glaring. I chuckled to myself and mouthed, "I told you we'd meet again soon…"

Her eyes widened and she looked down at her blank test sheet. I chuckled harder, until the examiner next to me gave me a pointed look, so went back on the search for Pokemon trainers. A kid from the sand was being terribly obvious with a Zigzagoon zipping around under the desks, so I called him out, "Genin 27… you're out."

He cursed as he stood up and left the room. His teammates followed behind and Satoshi glared at them threateningly. One kid sitting almost dead center to the room had a hood on, so I couldn't see if he was cheating or not, so I had Kotetsu carefully change his angle. A mess of green hair peeked out from underneath the hood. His pokemon was a Ralts, and it was rocking back and forth with its eyes closed, deep in thought. Nothing overtly wrong, but I felt like I knew that guy.

Soon, time wound down, and I didn't catch anybody else of anything. Not many trainers in this crowd, not surprising. I crossed my legs and leaned back, Kotetsu checking in on my list of usual suspects, but nothing changed. Ibiki looked at me and nodded, so I headed back into the hallway and dropped the disguise. Kotetsu snuck out through a window and then back in through another, so I recalled him to his scroll. Ibiki went on this long speech about a tenth question, which ended up being a trick question, of continuing with a mission when you didn't know the outcome of your decisions fully or not. Those who would continue went onto the next part of the exam. Then something happened inside, causing quite the commotion, so I snuck back into the room. Only Temari noticed, who's eyes widened, she mouthed, "It was you?"

I winked and shrugged, she narrowed her eyes but smirked a bit as she turned away, she dug me. It was just a matter of time. I pointedly took up a seat next to her, which had recently been vacated by a disqualified ninja. She whispered, "You an examiner or not?"

"Aren't you strong ninja-only types supposed to be able to read into my actions and figure it out?" I teased.

"What makes you think I don't already know?"

"I think you have an idea, but you want to double check."

"What if that's the case?"

"Then I'll keep you in suspense, I like seeing you all curious and demanding, good look on you."

"You are awful…"

"You love it."

She huffed and looked away. The next proctor was some chick called Miritashi Anko, she was a special jonin by her chakra level, but purely through looks, she might have been a stripper. She told us to follow her to the next exam. We ended up just outside Training Ground 44, the forest of death. Every team got a Heaven or Earth scroll, the goal was to get one of each through whatever means necessary and then get to the central tower. Very, very few of these ninja had pokemon, fewer yet actually knew how to train them, this was gonna be a walk in the park. Then the proctor said, "Go to your assigned gates… except for Brendan of Littleroot, Scott Park Jr, May Birch, Satoshi of Cerulean City, and Wally of Celestia Town, I need to talk with you four inside this tent here."

The green hair had been Wally's I realized, and he took off his hood to confirm I, how hadn't I seen it? She pointed to a large tent outside the gate. I walked in and inside was Professor Birch. He smiled and said, "Ah? Is it time already? Well then, let's get started, you four will not be going after scrolls. You will be going after pokemon! We've arrange for there to be exactly eight wild pokemon released into the forest, two from each of the region of one of the competitors. As both May and Brendan are from the Elemental Nations, we have released a Marshstomp, Combusken, Groyvle and Pikachu. Satoshi and Scott are from the Kanto Republic, so a Scyther, Pinscer, Aerodactyl and Dratini have been released into the forest as well. And finally, Wally, you were raised in Konoha, but born in Celestia Town, in the Sinnoh region, and as such, a Glaceon and Leafeon were released into the forest."

Satoshi's eyes were suddenly blazing quietly like fire, I could guess which pokemon he wanted. He asked, "We get to keep them, of course?"

Birch nodded enthusiastically, "You have five days to catch them from the horn that goes off. You'll be sharing a gate with a genin team. Here are your gates!"

He handed us each a gate number and I ended up with Team Kurenai. They were ready and raring to go. "You have a heaven scroll Brendan?" Kiba demanded.

"Nah, I'm not in that exam…" I said, "Mines looking for certain pokemon in the forest."

"What happens if a ninja group attacks you?" asked Shino.

"I guess I make them go away, and stay away…" I said with a shrug.

"Just what we'd expect from you…" Kiba said with a huff, "acting all cool."

The horn blared, and I took off. My running shoes at full blast, and just in case Team Kurenai thought of any nasty surprises for my back, I Kotetsu attach to my bag on lookout. I pulled out my pokenav and studied the terrain, there was dense forest split in half by a river, and a lake in a completely rock basin near the northern edge. I wanted Groyvle, it would nicely cover any weaknesses of Ka and even out my team's type disparity. The question was only where to look. I heard a familiar battle-shout and an odd ruffle, then a sudden wind laced with chakra raced by, ripping trees apart in its wake. I headed towards it to find none other than Suna kunoichi Temari locked in battle with my target, Groyvle. The leaves on the sides of its arms flashed and then glowed green, and it dashed forwards at blinding speeds. At the last second, it slashed its arms, and Temari just barely blocked the hit with her steel fan. I summoned Ameterasu and Tsukuyomi and shouted, "Double Gust!"

Their combined gust knocked Groyvle off its desired track and I jumped in front of Temari. Keeping both her and Groyvle safe from each other. "Sleep powder!" I called.

But Groyvle was fast, too fast, and sliced down a nearby tree. I grabbed Temari and jumped, moving us out from under the tree, but Ameterasu took care of business, and Groyvle was sound asleep. I used my pokescroll and caught it easily. "I'll call you Konoha," I said, "for your leaves…"

I slipped his scroll into the holster for such scrolls by my belt line. I turned around to Temari and said, "So… that's what? 2 – 0 on favors. Both times life-threatening, you know… normally I charge people for escorts."

"Another escort that I didn't need. Do you think I'm weak? I'll prove you wrong here and now."

"Nah, I got in-between you two because it suited me. I needed to save my target from you," I said, toting the pokescroll Konoha was currently residing in, "I know those gales too well, you certainly made a mark on the map with that fan of yours."

"Maybe I should make a mark on your face to remind you next time we meet."

"You wouldn't do that to me…" I said, "I'm the most interesting thing that's ever happened to you."

"You make yourself sound so impressive…"

"And tell me… how does one impress the flower of the Village Hidden in the Sand?"

"Not through big talk and witty banter…"

"Are we bantering in a witty manner?" I asked.

"This is bad comedy…"

"Then why are you smiling?"

She blushed and said nothing.

I took a step closer to her and said, "Maybe you like bad comedy and a rescue now and again."

I felt a cold edge tickle my chin and she said, "Take another step and see what happens. I dare you."

"Oh god… strong, smart, and kinky? You don't do the bad girl thing half-way do you?" I asked as I stepped away, "So, which direction is your team?"

"You don't want to meet them."

"Are they as scary as you?"

"I'm scary, damn you!" she shouted.

"Damn scary!" I said as I felt her kunai kiss my throat again.

"Damn right!"

"Do I say Jinx here? Or how does that work?"

"I fear for mankind…"

Kotetsu got nervous about the kunai, so he detached himself from my pack and magnetized the kunai to himself, getting the knife off my neck. I grabbed the knife and recalled Kotetsu in two swift motions. I tossed it back to her and said, "Fine, I won't walk you home… but just make sure you and your team make it to the next round, I really want to see what you guys are made of."

With that I turned and jumped back off into the forest. I had no idea where to look for the other pokemon available, so I went to the tallest tree I could see and looked around, nothing. But that wasn't my only option, I closed my eyes, and reached out my senses for chakra. The forest was swarming with all kinds of beasts, but very few pokemon. Specifically, only one flying type pokemon, Aerodactyl. Its fossil wasn't found in the Elemental Nations, but it was one of the first fossil pokemon to ever be discovered, so even I knew of it. It flew in a circle above the main tower in the center of the forest. I turned on my running shoes and blasted off towards the rare pokemon. In fifteen minutes I was at the base of the tower, and instants later I was at the top. Two Chunin examiners stared at me baffled, one said, "this isn't where you turn in your scrolls genin… what village are you from?"

I sighed, "I'm not your typical genin, just stay out of my way…"

"Is that a threat?" demanded the other.

"I have to catch that pokemon! Don't get in my way!"

They looked up and noticed the Aerodactyl for the first time and they jumped in surprise. I had to get its attention, but how? Ameterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Ka were at a type disadvantage. While Sui's water attacks would be ideal, it didn't mean anything if they didn't reach up to our target, who was well out of range. I released Kotetsu and said, "Take him Down buddy!"

Kotetsu jetted off above our target, and then rapidly turned and threw his entire body right into the enemy's back, bringing it down to the top of the tower. I recalled Kotetsu and sent out Sui and Ryuu.  
>"Sui, Water Gun! Ryuu, keep the other trainers off our back if they come here!"<p>

Sui shot off cover fire for Ryuu, while my target raged, spitting fireballs and causing gusts with its powerful wings. "Keep him on the ground!" I shouted.

Sui jumped onto a nearby lightning rod and shot down Water bullets onto the confused Aerodactyl. Our target was sprawling in confusion and pain, so I prepared my pokescroll. Then the unthinkable happened, another pokescroll shot by me towards my target. I caught it and Ryuu burnt it to ashes. I used my scroll and caught the pokemon with ease. I recalled Sui and turned to see who had broken a cardinal rule. Scott Jr. was standing there, dressed in light plate armor that gave great protection with minimum movement impediment. "Not okay…" I said, "That's against the rules of pokemon training."

"I prefer to think of them as guidelines…" he replied with a smirk.

"That smirk was the wrong move," I said with a chuckle, "because now I'm mad."

I dashed forward and punched him in the neck, where he wasn't protected. He coughed, and staggered back, ultimately tumbling over the edge. His training took over and over the course of the top two stories he stopped his fall before this became a deadly affair. But I wasn't sure he'd gotten my message yet, so I jumped down and kicked his neck, knocking him away from the structure. The armor protected him from the fall, but he still landed badly. "There are consequences for breaking the rules based off common courtesy."

"Come at me again! I will not be bested by some savage!" he shouted.

I jumped and pounded down on his chest with my fist, breaking his plate and his ribs. And I said, "You asked…"

"But how…" he asked, "You looked like a weakling with well-trained pokemon…"

"I try to look like less than I am," I said with a wink, "makes it more surprising when I let loose."

He passed out and I heard clapping nearby. When I looked up, Temari and her team were watching, Temari clapping in a patronizing fashion. She asked, "Do you always give speeches after you beat someone?"

"Twice in one day!" I shouted, "I knew you liked me."

"What's this guys deal?" her team-mate in all black whispered to her.

"Why are you wearing all black in this humidity?" I shot back.

"Big bark there, I wonder if your bite is as bad. Taking down weaklings like that guy won't impress us."

I squinted down at Scott and shrugged, "Meh, he had it coming regardless."

"What did he do?" Temari asked.

"He tried to steal my catch," I said with a snarl.

"What do you catch?" all-black asked me.

I released my new Aerodactyl and said, "I'll call him Chi. You train pokemon?"

The boy with the red hair and the tattoo said, "Quite the monster… you train pokemon."

I nodded and it was my turn to clap sarcastically, "What gave me up?"

"Are you making fun of me?" Red head demanded, and he released a wave of evil chakra.

Aeordactyl cringed, and hid behind me. All-black laughed and pointed, "You see that, just like his new master, all bark and no bite!"

"The only thing that makes pokemon react like that is tailed beast chakra…" I recalled Chi and asked, "How many tails do you have? Oh, better yet, let me guess. Those circles around your eyes make you look like a raccoon, which would mean… Shukaku, the One-tails."

Complete silence, I gloated, "Yeah… I'm that good. You know… there's another of your kind in the exams right now… in this forest. With a monster inside, but he's a total ray of sunshine, despite that he's got the scariest of all the tailed beasts. The Nine-tailed Fox, you may think you're bad, but you're gonna have to badder than you could possibly imagine. And remember, just because pokemon don't like to fight you hosts, jinchuriki is the word I believe, doesn't mean they won't. And I could thump any of the other trainers here, here's your proof. This guy wasn't even worth using my pokemon."

I didn't turn my back, but rather, threw down a smokeball and used my running shoes to dash away. I was scared, nearly shitless, pokemon wouldn't fight a tailed beast if they had the choice between that and a painful death. I got as far away from the tower as physically possible and set up camp. I needed to calm down and shake that feeling of killing intent. I slept like a log that night. I overslept horribly, it was almost the next evening, but the feeling of that foul chakra was gone. Some poor saps had triggered my traps, I smiled as I searched the three genin, they had an earth scroll, which I pocketed. I could help out some of my recruits, so I set off, scanning for my friends.

I sensed Team Asuma standing completely still, watching something, so I pulled my awareness back in and raced off to see them. I found them watching a match. But something was wrong. Sauske and Naruto were unconscious being guarded by a wounded Sakura and some kid with big eyebrows, a bowlcut and sporting a green leotard. He shouted, "I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, Rock Lee!"

He was one of May's recruits. The battle was not going well for Sakura and Lee, the other team was from the Village hidden in the Sound and they were good. I made my way over to Team Asuma and said, "I know this is a competition… but aren't those guys your friends. And you're just sitting here?"

They were shocked, and Shikamaru asked, "How are you always here when stuff like this happens?"

"We don't stand a chance," Chouji whispered.

Ino shook her head, "I can't let Sakura look cooler than me. We're going in."

"I'm with you," I whispered and Ino's eyes glimmered cruely.

"What's the plan?" she asked me and I turned to Shikamaru and said, "You're the tactician."

"Chouji, distract them, I'll hold down mummy boy, Ino you take on the girl, Brendan, can you get Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Lee out of there?"

"Two at a time…" I whispered as I pulled out Chi's scroll. I released him and climbed onto his back. He took off and I had him hover above the battle. Shikamaru's team invaded and I swooped. I landed next to Sakura and asked, "How're you guys doing?"

"I'm not sure if you can move Naruto or Sasuke, and I have no idea where to move Lee!" she cried.

"Fine, no evacs… time to rage, Chi."

Chi turned and shot a stream of fire out at air-blast boy. But the genin used his jutsu to keep Chi's fire at bay. "That was unexpected…" I remarked.

I leapt off of Chi's back and said, "When I shout your name, stop the fire."

Chi kept up the stream of fire without any sort of affirmation on his part. I started to edge around the battle to come up behind the sound ninja. But then another round of evil chakra burst out from… Sasuke. His body was covered in what looked like brand new bruises, and his chakra looked purple. "Chi!" I shouted, and both the sound nin and Chi stopped at the same time to stare at Sasuke. I recalled Chi and Sasuke asked Sakura something. He moved with speed that I couldn't match, and broke that kid I'd been fighting's arms. "Holy shit…" I whispered, "The freaks are coming out for this exam."

Before Sasuke could go onto the next ninja, Sakura stopped him. Mummy-boy picked up his suddenly defeated teammate and retreated with his other teammate. I walked into the clearing as Sasuke clutched his shoulder with one hand while he stared at the Heaven scroll held in his other hand. In as covert a manner as possible, I handed him the earth scroll I'd gotten earlier and said, "Get the tower and get that looked at now."

Just then Naruto too, came back to consciousness. He started panicking like the battle was still on. Shikamaru got him to calm down and I pulled him aside. "What's up Brendan?" he asked, "I hadn't known you were competing."

"Look, you need to know something. Just like how you guys have a demon inside you, in this tournament is another kid who has a similar one. You can't use your demon's chakra willingly, that guy can. He's got read hair, and a tattoo on his forehead, watch out."

"There… there are others?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"And not all of them are treated like you are Naruto, much, much worse in most cases," I said, "You need to watch your back, he doesn't know who you are… but if I was you, I'd start training to control big-red-and-fluffy."

Naruto gulped and nodded, "I don't even know where to begin."

"Ask Kakashi after this exam, this can't wait. You need to work on it in case you have to fight him. Okay?"

Naruto nodded soberly and headed off to be with his team while I jetted to the tower, to finish the Second Exam.

END CHAPTER

Trainer Card Color: Green

Name: Brendan

Pokemon:  
>Sui – Marshstomp<br>Ka – Combusken  
>Tsukuyomi – Dustox<br>Ameterasu – Beautifly  
>Kotetsu – Beldum<br>Ryu – Bagon  
>Chi – Aerodactyl<p>

Badges:  
>STONE BADGE<br>KNUCKLE BADGE

COMPANIONS:  
>Tyra, the Pokemon Breeder and her Shiny Plusle and Minun<p> 


End file.
